When Did Boxer-briefs Become The Dominant/standard Underwear? (USA)

endoftheage

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When I got out of high school in the early/mid-2000’s virtually all of my peers wore boxer shorts. Almost none of the guys I graduated with wore boxer-briefs/trunks, and only a few very nerdy guys wore tighty-whities. Even when I finished college in the late 2000’s, still virtually everyone wore boxer shorts. Boxer-briefs/trunks were a little more popular, but tighty-whities were almost exclusively for nerdy guys only.

It seems like sometime around 2012-2015(ish), the opinions and attitudes changed and young adult guys started transitioning more to boxer-briefs. A lot of guys who generally wore boxers started picking up boxer-briefs. By 2020, boxer-briefs seem to be dominant among guys under 40, and boxers are the outlier. Not to the degree that briefs were when I graduated from high school or in college, but a minority nonetheless, so much so that I would suspect that 18-23ish guys today have never worn boxers.

Nowadays, it seems like the standard straight guy under 40, not metrosexual/into fashion, will wear dark solid color boxer-briefs as their default underwear. In the decade of the 2000s, the default would have been plaid boxers.

Have you noticed this happening in your part of the USA or your country?

Note: please remember this forum only allows discussion of people (including yourself) who were 18 at the time you’re referencing them. So you can’t talk about yourself or anyone else before they turned 18 even though they’re older than 18 now. That’s why I started my topic with when I got out of high school, since myself snd my peers were 18.
 

bar4doug

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Nowadays, it seems like the standard straight guy under 40, not metrosexual/into fashion, will wear dark solid color boxer-briefs as their default underwear. In the decade of the 2000s, the default would have been plaid boxers.

Have you noticed this happening in your part of the USA or your country?

My first few years in college, fashion was 80's leftovers. It was tighty-whities and fashion briefs. There were not many boxer-briefs to be had.

Then grunge came... and over one summer, everything changed. Boxers were the standard.

But soon thereafter, you began to see this hybrid called the boxer-brief gain traction. Which morphed into two types, really... the long inseam athletic boxer-brief, and the hipster trunk.

It's all good. I just think there are more choices now. And as I've posted before / elsewhere, I mix it up depending on the weather and outer layers. There is nothing pleasant about having an oversized boxer short on underneath skinny-jeans...

I've seen it all...
 

halcyondays

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Thirty years ago when I was in my late 20s. Before then it was jockey shorts and bikini briefs. I missed the whole grunge/sagger era. I was too old. :cool:
 
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endoftheage

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Now a lot of guys wear compression underwear from Nike or UnderArmour.

Like for their regular everyday underwear? or just for athletic activities?

Is the only difference between compression underwear and boxer-briefs/trunk how long compression underwear is? It almost comes down to your knees.
 

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I first noticed guys wearing boxer briefs around 2008 or so. Boxer shorts were on their way out around here (northern NJ). I do not recall seeing boxer briefs before that. By the early 20-teens boxer briefs had overtaken boxer shorts but I started seeing briefs again worn by younger guys. Now it seems to be all boxer briefs and regular briefs with tighty whities making a come back.

However . . .

If you are old enough, as I am, you may recall that Jockey made something called a mid-way brief, which is essentially what boxer briefs today are. I never actually knew any one who wore them but I saw them advertised. Everything in fashion comes around full circle.
 

mattsact

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Like for their regular everyday underwear? or just for athletic activities?

Is the only difference between compression underwear and boxer-briefs/trunk how long compression underwear is? It almost comes down to your knees.
Like for regular underwear.

The fabric is a bit different. It's kind of shiny and technical looking, silky feeling.

Men's UA Tech™ 6" Boxerjock®
 

mrlumpy

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I think I bought my first boxer briefs in the late 90’s. A few of my buddies also started wearing them then too. Before that I was a mix of boxers and Calvin Klein briefs. I was in the underwear department at Nordstrom last week and there were no boxers at all. I don’t think they are a thing anymore.
 
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I believe that 2013 was the year when boxer-brief sales exceeded boxer sales. I don't know what happened to cause this, though.

I haven't been to my gym since 2020, but, at the time, it was about a 50/50 split of boxer-briefs/boxers, among the 20-something crowd that frequented the place. Not sure if that is normal.

I never saw anyone wearing boxer-briefs until 1997 or so when I was in college. They would have been seen as "gay" at the time. Almost everyone else I knew (including me) wore boxers at the time. I briefly tried boxer-briefs around 2000-ish, didn't like them, and have been freeballing full time since then.

Edit: I'll add that loose boxers are definitely still a thing, even if they aren't the default option at the moment.
 

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I never saw anyone wearing boxer-briefs until 1997 or so when I was in college. They would have been seen as "gay" at the time. Almost everyone else I knew (including me) wore boxers at the time. I briefly tried boxer-briefs around 2000-ish, didn't like them, and have been freeballing full time since then.

Calvin Klein put them in the main stream in the early 90's when NYC was plastered with billboards showing Marky Mark in them, grabbing his funky junk...

And I remember the Jockey branded ones, too...
 

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In the UK I’d say boxer briefs were pretty much the norm by 2000, so we were maybe ahead of the US in terms of this. I think even then loose boxers had gone out of fashion. Certainly now younger guys in the UK almost exclusively wear boxer briefs/trunks of varying lengths. I’d say loose boxers were maybe as rare as briefs in the changing rooms.
 
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endoftheage

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In the UK I’d say boxer briefs were pretty much the norm by 2000, so we were maybe ahead of the US in terms of this. I think even then loose boxers had gone out of fashion. Certainly now younger guys in the UK almost exclusively wear boxer briefs/trunks of varying lengths. I’d say loose boxers were maybe as rare as briefs in the changing rooms.

So if I got to watch a group of 18 year old British lads change (sounds like a great day to me!), would you say 90%+ of them would have boxer-briefs or trunks for their undies?
 
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Bilad90

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I’d say it’d be higher than 90% - perhaps as much as 99% for a group of straight lads. Loose boxers virtually non existent and I think the only guys that age who would wear briefs are maybe the ones who play football either semi pro or pro.
 

endoftheage

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I’d say it’d be higher than 90% - perhaps as much as 99% for a group of straight lads. Loose boxers virtually non existent and I think the only guys that age who would wear briefs are maybe the ones who play football either semi pro or pro.

Oh wow boxer-briefs/trunks are that dominant over there in the 18-25ish age group?

And what would gay/bi lads be more likely to wear?
 

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Yes they are basically standard underwear, as other people have said 18-25 year olds probably haven’t ever even worn loose boxers. Younger gay lads also predominantly wear boxer briefs/trunks just with a higher number of briefs but still very ouch in the minority.
 

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When I got out of high school in the early/mid-2000’s virtually all of my peers wore boxer shorts. Almost none of the guys I graduated with wore boxer-briefs/trunks, and only a few very nerdy guys wore tighty-whities. Even when I finished college in the late 2000’s, still virtually everyone wore boxer shorts. Boxer-briefs/trunks were a little more popular, but tighty-whities were almost exclusively for nerdy guys only.

It seems like sometime around 2012-2015(ish), the opinions and attitudes changed and young adult guys started transitioning more to boxer-briefs. A lot of guys who generally wore boxers started picking up boxer-briefs. By 2020, boxer-briefs seem to be dominant among guys under 40, and boxers are the outlier. Not to the degree that briefs were when I graduated from high school or in college, but a minority nonetheless, so much so that I would suspect that 18-23ish guys today have never worn boxers.

Nowadays, it seems like the standard straight guy under 40, not metrosexual/into fashion, will wear dark solid color boxer-briefs as their default underwear. In the decade of the 2000s, the default would have been plaid boxers.

Have you noticed this happening in your part of the USA or your country?

Note: please remember this forum only allows discussion of people (including yourself) who were 18 at the time you’re referencing them. So you can’t talk about yourself or anyone else before they turned 18 even though they’re older than 18 now. That’s why I started my topic with when I got out of high school, since myself snd my peers were 18.
Not sure if this time line is accurate but I'll bet it's close enough. I DEPLORED the arrival of shapeless, ugly old-man boxers among the 18-26 demographic. I have no idea why we abounded briefs, esp because in my day, as I said, it was grandpa underwear. Maybe it's just the natural cycle of fashion, or maybe guys got tired of having their balls swing all day unsupported.
And/or maybe they got tired of the stupid rearranging that boxers always require. I once saw a dude in the Locker room strip to his boxers and pull on tight compression shorts OVER them and then spend several minutes stuffing the flimsy boxers material down the legs of the compression shorts, which resulted in them looking all wrinkly and lame.
Maybe guys just want the ball support but for some reason feel briefs are TOO brief. I myself don't like the unnecessary thigh coverage of boxer-briefs, but they do seem to be "safe" for guys to wear; that is, it's not even close to gay (which briefs might be considered as) but they're not as unwieldy as boxers.
 
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Bilad90

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I’m not really sure what the average UK young male (18-25) would even make of say a pair of black ck briefs. I’m not sure they’d consider them gay or old mans underwear but maybe just a bit weird.
 

opinionman

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Not sure if this time line is accurate but I'll bet it's close enough. I DEPLORED the arrival of shapeless, ugly old-man boxers among the 18-26 demographic. I have no idea why we abounded briefs, esp because in my day, as I said, it was grandpa underwear. Maybe it's just the natural cycle of fashion, or maybe guys got tired of having their balls swing all day unsupported.
And/or maybe they got tired of the stupid rearranging that boxers always require. I once saw a dude in the Locker room strip to his boxers and pull on tight compression shorts OVER them and then spend several minutes stuffing the flimsy boxers material down the legs of the compression shorts, which resulted in them looking all wrinkly and lame.
Maybe guys just want the ball support but for some reason feel briefs are TOO brief. I myself don't like the unnecessary thigh coverage of boxer-briefs, but they do seem to be "safe" for guys to wear; that is, it's not even close to gay (which briefs might be considered as) but they're not as unwieldy as boxers.
And of course I meant "Abandoned briefs" not "Abounded briefs"... even tho' back then briefs did, in fact, abound.