Generational Underwear Trends

wrestlecoach

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One of the questions I had was if anyone else was familiar with the Penguin brand of underwear, and if it was more a Calvin Klein type brand or more a Hollister/American Eagle type brands.
Those brand differences seem to be generational as much or more than the actual boxers or briefs dilemma.
 

Stanmeister

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I think you have it. When I grew up it was tighty whitey briefs. Then to bikini briefs and other briefs, which has been my choice ever since. For us when I was growing up (I am a younger baby boomer), boxers obviously were for nerds or grandfather types.
 

cltben

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One of the questions I had was if anyone else was familiar with the Penguin brand of underwear, and if it was more a Calvin Klein type brand or more a Hollister/American Eagle type brands.
Those brand differences seem to be generational as much or more than the actual boxers or briefs dilemma.

Penguin has been around for several years, I know they have a store in Chicago. It's not as big as the American Eagle/Hollister chains but a similar style. I first saw some Penguin boxer briefs a couple of months ago while traveling with a friend.
 
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xmarksbreakdownx

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I graduated high school around 2008, so I'll shed some light on this.

Up until I was 12, I always wore white briefs. When I turned 12 or 13, I started wearing boxers. Mostly tartan boxers. 12/13yo was when I started middle school, and we had to change clothes for gym. This is also around the time boxer briefs started getting popular I think. I'd say roughly 70% of the guys wore boxers, the rest boxer briefs. No one wore briefs.

By high school, 65% of my underwear were boxer briefs, the rest boxers. I'd still say boxers were the majority rule of the school.

Now I'd say boxer briefs are probably what I see 75% of the guys in my age bracket and younger are wearing.

I think the change in underwear trends has a lot to do with, "I don't want to wear what my dad/grandpa wore." That's something every generation goes through with... well, everything. Whether it be clothes, activities, whatever. No one wants to do what, "old people" do. Example, most of the kids in my generations had mom's that drove suvs. We see suvs as a soccer mom car, we prefer crossovers. Our parent's drove SUVs because their mothers drove station wagons. See what I'm saying?

Like all things, underwear goes in cycle. I'm slowly starting to see briefs come back into fashion. As someone else said, it seems to be something that mostly Hipster kids are into.

If I had to do a break down of the kind of underwear different people wear I'd say (From what I've seen)...

  • Boxer briefs: Guys in their teens up until their later 20s, sometimes might wear boxers.
  • Boxers: Guys in their 30s up until the mid 50s.
  • White Briefs: Guys in their mid 50s and up, maybe country boys.
  • White boxers: Guys in their mid 50s and up
  • Colored briefs: "Hipster" type guys in their 20ish
  • Designer underwear: Depends on the brand. American Eagle is mostly younger surfer type white guys, Polo Ralph Lauren younger black guys, Calvin Klein would be gay guys, metro sexuals, then you have the brands that cater towards gay guys like Andrew Christian.
  • Trunks: Mostly gay guys, over sexual straight guys that take a lot of shirtless selfies.
Again, this is just based off of what I've seen. Also, I live in the south.
 

bippy

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Most of the comments here are pretty much dead-on, based on my observations. A big deal for my generation (I graduated from high school in the mid-90s) seems to have been the change from briefs to boxers around age 11-13 or so, when kids in school start to change for gym class, vs. just wearing their regular school clothes. Boxer-briefs didn't really start to become popular until the late '90s, so they weren't really an option for us.

I currently work at a college (in the north-eastern part of the US) and have been using their gym for the last year or so. Among the college-age guys who go there, I would say that there is roughly a 50/50 split between boxers and boxer-briefs. A few Asian guys wear briefs (which was a surprise to me...I thought that briefs were effectively dead in that age group). Some guys wear boxer-briefs for exercise and then switch to boxers afterwards, presumably for comfort.
 

hot showers

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grew up on briefs, switched to boxers in college in the 80's. now mixed.
In college (closeted) it was a huge turn on hanging out with the guys in our boxers. Dicks and/or balls were always accidentally exposed through the holes. Still turned on to this day to see guys in boxers...anticipating that accidental showing...and giving my own "accidental" showing through my boxer hole!
 
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sevenxfive

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Graduated hs in mid-90s. Wore briefs until hs, switched to boxers. In college wore a mix of boxers and boxer briefs. Now (mid-30's), wear primarily boxers and boxer briefs depending on what I'm going to be doing or how hot it is. But recently bought some briefs too, for that retro, squeezy feeling.
 

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I just bought some quality boxer briefs today. I have been using some very cheap briefs that were not up to standard.

I wore the boxer briefs under swim trunks at the local pool, going nude at the locker room doesnt worry me anymore thanks to LPSG.
A jock U der trunks is far superior to wet sagging briefs
 
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bar4doug

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It was "underwear that came in a tube" and briefs for my peers until the early 90's. The boxers (plaid, tartan) came into vogue with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the flannel... It kind of went with the baggy look. It was around this time that I also saw boxer briefs for the first time.... This is the trend I observed.

Variety is good. Wear whatever works for you.
 

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I graduated high school in 99. Started in boxer shorts in middle school. Started wearing boxes briefs with sports in high school. By the time I was in college I was wearing boxer briefs much more then boxers. Now I'm in my 30's I wear boxers, boxer briefs, trunks and briefs. Seems I wear every style from my lifetime in a week now LOL
 

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58 here, and right now I wear tighty whiteys usually...although I sometimes switch off to boxer briefs. When I was a kid (in the 60's and early 70's) I was actually one of the few guys who wore boxers. Mostly everyone else wore the standard white briefs. Now I also enjoy a hot jockstrap or thong....or commando on a day when I can show off in loose shorts!
 

bippy

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Out of curiousity, how did you end up wearing boxers as a kid at a time when doing so was unpopular? Was it your choice or your parents'?
 

17111man

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Out of curiousity, how did you end up wearing boxers as a kid at a time when doing so was unpopular? Was it your choice or your parents'?
Funny you should ask that......it must have been my parents because I know it wasn't mine. It's odd because my dad always wore tighty whiteys. I also remember being very self-conscious about them because no one wore boxers then......tighty whiteys were the norm.
 

briefsguy1993

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growing up i did briefs.. then once i was in 6th grade i switched to boxers, then in high school i switched to boxer briefs then to trunks, Now i only wear trunk and briefs (from designer to tight whitites) and the occasional jock strap or commando when home relaxing
 

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I still wear thongs or sometimes bikini briefs. They're sexy, they feel good, they show off my finer points under skintight jeans. So some dickheads figure that means gay. So what? Why should anyone care?
 
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Trunks for me. I've worn everything but prefer trunks because they fit me just right and are very comfortable. Although at home I don't wear any underwear or clothes for that matter.
 

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I'm 29. Briefs for me all the way. I wore boxers in 6th & 7th grade and switched back to briefs the summer before 8th grade. This is a very interesting topic to me because my generation is one where pretty much ALL of the guys started out in briefs and switched to boxers.
I've definitely noticed this trend. So many guys my age have gone from briefs to boxers to boxerbriefs. A few here and there have found briefs again...but the majority are either boxers or boxerbriefs, it's almost like they WANT to go back to briefs but are hesitant to due to the social stigmas that have arisen during their boxer years.

I for one was always proud to be that guy who went against the grain. When so many of my friends were switching to boxers...I went "back" to briefs lol. And I'm still proud, every chance I get, to reveal myself as a brief wearer among a potentially conflicted group. As far as I'm concerned...boxerbriefs are for guys who hate boxers but aren't confident enough to wear briefs...so they play it safe.
 

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Funny you should ask that......it must have been my parents because I know it wasn't mine. It's odd because my dad always wore tighty whiteys. I also remember being very self-conscious about them because no one wore boxers then......tighty whiteys were the norm.
My situation was similar to yours. I wore boxers because my dad wore boxers, and I wanted to wear briefs like the other guys.
 

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I grew up in the 50's and 69's. Everyone wore white briefs but some of us switched to boxers around fifth and sixth grade. It was a family thing with us I guess since our dads wore boxers. One day they showed up in our underwear drawer.
 
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