Boxers or briefs? For decades, this choice has been considered a key to a man’s inner self.
No more. Assailing men’s identities are a jumble of underwear options, such as the boxer-brief and the gripper trunk, not to mention the Y-back thong.
Style columnist Christina Binkley recently dragged her husband underwear-shopping. Amidst a cacophony of colors, patterns, styles and something called “profile-enhancers,” what’s a grey-boxers-only type guy to do?
As my husband learned while shopping last week, men’s underwear these days is a whole new fashion segment. Men’s undies come in a variety of silhouettes (such as boxer, brief, or trunk), rises (such as low, mid or high), fit options (such as relaxed or slim), colors and patterns. The fabrics include not only the traditional woven or knit cotton but also Lycra, Spandex and various “microfiber” synthetics.
Jockey’s 3D-Innovations Seamfree Microfiber undies have “eight-way stretch” and offer the service of “sculpting and supporting muscular movement” — which sounds suspiciously like a men’s version of the Spanx body-shapers. To further flatter the male physique, there are padded briefs and “profile-enhancing” briefs.
“What was once a commodity seems to have become a fashion accessory,” says Alan Feldman, a cotton-boxers man who lives and shops in Las Vegas.
Men’s underwear — now a $3.1 billion U.S. market, according to market researcher NPD Group — was once a staid area. Fathers passed their habits and brands along to their sons. A man who wore boxers in his twenties could expect to meet his maker in the same style.
Today, men are confronted with new styles in nearly every aspect of their lives, from shampoo to shoes. Newfangled materials and fashion-forward silhouettes encourage men to shop more, so the casual-clothes department is now a sea of grommets, shrunken jackets and flood-length pants.
The prices have changed, too. The Calvin Klein Steel Gripper Trunk is $24. At Target, a two-pack of men’s Merona house-brand boxers is just $4. Many of the new undergarments arrive in fancy packaging such as mirrored cellophane and carry exotic, inscrutable names such as Calvin Klein’s BXR-Matrix line, which sounds like a motorbike but is actually knit boxers.
“We’re doing underwear with all of our energy and all of our creativity,” says Bob Mazzoli, chief creative officer of Calvin Klein Underwear, which was an early leader in introducing stylish men’s underwear.
Though its best sellers in the U.S. are the classic brief and the classic boxer-brief, Calvin Klein offers 15 underwear “groups,” such as Steel and Pro-Stretch. Mr. Mazzoli says all the different styles seek to entice different types of customers, such as “comfort men” — likely to go for briefs — and “sports men” — interested in such features as support and stretchy fabrics.
“We want to give him something that he can engage with and not be just that boring choice,” Mr. Mazzoli says. “We don’t think of it as just underwear.”
My husband thinks of it as just underwear. When we went shopping last week, Jim planned to rush to an important meeting after grabbing a handful of his favorite boxer-briefs. He had 30 minutes in Macy’s underwear department, which seemed like plenty of time.
Then he began shopping. He began opening boxes of “body-stretch lo-rise trunks” to ascertain whether they looked anything like the gray cotton knits he wears at home. Pondering a pair of trunks, he commented, “Somehow it looks just like a brief, doesn’t it?” For the record, trunks are shorter than a knit boxer but longer than briefs. “I just want something in gray,” he said several times.
Soon, Jim was pacing, brows knitted, with handfuls of underwear. Each rack offered a fresh discovery. Jockey’s low-cut “Echelon” boxers came in gray, which pleased him, but then he began to consider shaking things up with white.
Often, men’s fashion decisions get relegated to the women who love them — women being accustomed to an array of choices. The vast majority of men’s clothing in the U.S. is purchased by women, says Bridget Brennan, chief executive of Female Factor, a consulting agency focused on marketing to women. “In almost every society in the world, women bring procurement into the home,” says Ms. Brennan, who buys her husband’s underwear.
This is true in our home, too. Yet Jim seemed intrigued by the possibilities. Indeed, choice seemed to loosen Jim’s natural reserve. He stopped at a rack of green and yellow Polo Ralph Lauren boxer shorts with hula girls and palm trees. “Would you get me these?” he asked. “Honestly?”
His attention was also arrested by a line called “sculptured support.” He figured he could wear the undershirts on his daily runs until I blurted that they looked like ladies’ shapewear. He sped away.
Thirty-five minutes later, Jim’s shopping was unfinished and he was running late. He made a mad dash for the cash register.
Later, Jim discovered that a box claiming to contain a thigh-hugging gripper trunk actually held a pair of low-rise, button-front briefs. No matter. I tried them on, and I like them.
Eternal Brief Obsession 