The Best Boxer Briefs You Can Actually Buy
Six boxer briefs worth owning, from German cotton that outlasts your trousers to a cheap synthetic that is genuinely good. Each with its honest weakness.
The Best Trunks You Can Actually Buy
The best trunks for men, judged on the only thing that matters: whether the leg stays put. Six pairs from Swiss cotton to supermarket, weaknesses included.
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There is a specific and quietly maddening thing that happens with a badly drawn trunk. You put it on in the morning and it looks exactly as it should: square, neat, finishing cleanly on the upper thigh. By eleven o'clock it has climbed. By the middle of the afternoon it has stopped being a trunk at all and has become a slightly baggy brief with two bunched rings of fabric sitting where the legs used to be.
That is not a fit problem in the ordinary sense. It is a design problem, and it is the only question that matters in this category.
A trunk is a boxer brief with the leg cut short. That is the whole definition. Everything the style promises, the square line under a close trouser, the absence of fabric halfway down your thigh in August, the fact that it does not print through a summer suit, depends entirely on that short leg staying where the pattern cutter put it. A trunk that rides has given up every advantage it had over the longer garment and kept none of the compensations The Trunk Is the Sweet Spot.
So this roundup is organised around that. Six trunks, what they are made of, who they suit, and where each one falls down, because all of them do. No scores, no prices, and no pretending that any garment here is right for everybody.
Why the leg rides, in one paragraph
Your thigh is roughly conical, narrow at the knee and widest right where it meets your body. A hem that sits below that widest point is being pushed upward by every stride, and it will keep travelling until it finds somewhere it can rest. On a longer boxer brief that resting place is a long way up and the journey is obvious. On a trunk the hem starts near the top of the cone already, so the good ones simply sit above the widest point and never move, and the bad ones are cut to finish about two centimetres below it, which is the worst possible place.
This is why leg length on a trunk is not a matter of taste. Measure where your thigh is thickest, look at where the hem falls, and if it lands below that, the garment will migrate no matter how good the fabric is Underwear for Big Thighs: The Chafing Problem Solved.
Sunspel, for the English answer
Founded in Nottingham in 1860 by Thomas Hill and knitting in Long Eaton since 1937, Sunspel is the company that brought the boxer short to Britain in 1947, when John Hill came back from an American honeymoon with an idea and improved it by flattening the seams and using better cotton. That instinct still runs through everything they make.
The trunk is built from an exceptionally fine long staple cotton with a small amount of elastane, and the difference is tactile rather than technical: it feels lighter and smoother than the weight suggests, and it does not have the slightly rubbery hand that heavier stretch cottons develop. The leg is cut properly short, which is the point, and the seat is shaped rather than borrowed from a boxer brief block Sunspel cotton trunk.
Where it falls down: the cut is drawn for a fairly lean frame, and on a heavy thigh the leg finishes near the danger zone rather than above it. It is expensive for cotton. The fine yarn that makes it lovely also makes it less robust than a dense German rib, and it will not take a tumble dryer at all Sunspel vs Hanro: Two Ways to Spend Serious Money.
Hanro, for the pair you will still own in 2034
Swiss, founded in Liestal in 1884, and the answer most often given by men who have tried everything and quietly stopped experimenting.
Hanro's cotton trunks use a soft, dense, remarkably fine jersey that manages to be both light and substantial, with a covered waistband that does not turn into a rope after two years and a leg finish that lies flat rather than curling. The construction is unglamorous and completely correct: proper gusset, flat seams, shaped seat panel, nothing decorative anywhere. This is a garment designed by people whose main concern is what it will be like on its four hundredth wear Anatomy of a Brief: Every Panel, Seam and Stitch Explained.
Where it falls down: the elastane content is low by modern standards, which is exactly why it lasts and also why it can bag slightly at the seat by the end of a long day. It is cut generously, so most men size down. The colour range is white, black, navy and a beige. And it costs what Swiss knitwear costs, which is to say several times a supermarket pair.
CDLP, for wearing under a suit
Stockholm, founded in 2016, manufactured in Portugal and Italy, and built almost entirely around lyocell, a fibre regenerated from wood pulp in a closed loop process.
The reason to care is the drape. Lyocell has a fluid, faintly cool hand that sits closer to silk than to jersey, and it is smooth enough that a trunk in it genuinely disappears under a fine wool trouser. The cut is clean and the leg is short and stays short, because the fabric has almost no memory of being stretched and does not grip the thigh on the way up. If your problem with underwear has ever been that people can tell what you are wearing through your clothes, this fibre is the fix Briefs for the Office: The Tailoring Argument.
Where it falls down: lyocell is weaker wet than cotton, so it punishes an aggressive wash and dies in a hot dryer. It is expensive for a structurally simple garment. The coolness that is a virtue in July is a real liability in a cold flat in February. And the muted colours fade before the fabric wears out lyocell trunk.
Marks and Spencer, and the case for buying cheap
The reflex in a category like this is to assume the cheap answer is a compromise. For a great many men it is simply the right buy, and saying so is more useful than another paragraph about Swiss knitting.
Marks and Spencer sells cotton stretch trunks in several ranges, including versions with a cooling finish, and the everyday cotton multipack is a properly good garment: sensible fabric weight, a soft covered waistband, a gusset, and a leg cut short enough to stay put on an average build. It costs a small fraction of anything else here. If you want ten pairs in the drawer so that laundry stops being a weekly negotiation, this is the correct purchase and there is no argument to be made against it The Best Cheap Underwear That Is Not a False Economy.
Where it falls down: the waistband is the weak component and it will relax noticeably within a couple of years, which is roughly when the cotton is still fine and you throw the garment away anyway. Leg length is inconsistent between ranges, so a pair that works and a pair that rides can carry the same label. The sizing runs generous. And the patterned versions are, with genuine affection, terrible.
Marks and Spencer cotton stretch trunk
Calvin Klein, and what you are actually paying for
It would be dishonest to write about trunks and leave out the brand that made the shape mainstream. Calvin Klein did not invent the trunk, but it is the reason a generation of men know the word, and its trunk block is still the reference point most other brands are drawn against.
The garment itself is decent. The cotton stretch fabric is mid grade rather than exceptional, the cut is well judged for an average frame, the leg is short in the way the style requires, and the fit through the seat is genuinely good. The waistband is wide, firm and legible from across a changing room, which for many buyers is a feature rather than a cost.
Where it falls down: a meaningful share of the price is the logo on that waistband, and you should know that going in Calvin Klein vs Tommy Hilfiger: Are You Paying for the Waistband?. The cotton pills sooner than the price suggests. The stiff waistband is less comfortable under a belt on a long day than a soft covered one. And this is the most counterfeited underwear on earth, so buying from a marketplace seller is a genuine risk Calvin Klein cotton stretch trunk.
Calvin Klein cotton stretch trunk
SAXX, for sport in a short leg
Most sport underwear is cut long, on the reasonable theory that a longer leg protects the inner thigh. SAXX is the notable exception, and its argument is worth taking seriously: rather than solving friction with fabric length, it solves the underlying problem with an internal pouch panel that keeps skin from sitting against skin in the first place.
In a trunk length that matters more, not less, because a short leg gives you no chafe protection at all and the pouch is doing the whole job. The fabrics are synthetic and quick drying, the seams are flat, and for cycling, gym work and hot weather it is a genuinely clever piece of design rather than a marketing story Briefs, Boxers, Boxer Briefs or Trunks: How to Choose.
Where it falls down: the pouch is divisive and a substantial minority of men find it strange and never adjust. It adds a little bulk, which is the opposite of what a trunk is usually for under tailoring. The synthetics hold odour and need washing every wear. And it sits at a price that is hard to justify for anyone who is not actually sweating in it.
Who should not buy which
Do not buy Sunspel if you have heavy thighs. The leg is drawn short but not short enough for a wide upper leg, and you will spend the price of a very good dinner on a garment that rides.
Do not buy Hanro if you want your underwear to hold you firmly. The low elastane content is a durability decision, and the trade is a softer, looser feel than most modern stretch cottons give.
Do not buy CDLP if you tumble dry, if you are cold-blooded, or if you assumed the premium was buying you longevity. It is buying you drape and a fabric that behaves beautifully in heat.
Do not buy the Marks and Spencer multipack if you already know you have an awkward build, because the value of a cheap multipack collapses the moment you have to guess about leg length across ten pairs.
Do not buy Calvin Klein if the waistband is not something you want visible, or if you want the fabric to be the best part of the garment. It is a well-cut trunk with a famous belt on it.
Do not buy SAXX unless you are wearing it for something. As everyday underwear under a suit it is expensive, warm and slightly over-engineered.
The short leg is a commitment, not a compromise
The mistake men make with trunks is treating them as boxer briefs with a bit trimmed off, and then buying whichever length looks least alarming on the model. That is how you end up in the failure zone.
Commit properly. Either the hem sits clearly above the widest part of your thigh, in which case the trunk works exactly as advertised and never moves, or it sits clearly below it, in which case you should be buying a longer boxer brief and stop pretending The Best Boxer Briefs You Can Actually Buy. There is no useful middle, and every uncomfortable pair in your drawer is sitting in it.
The other honest note is that a trunk gives up something real. Cut the leg short and you lose the chafe protection that the longer style exists to provide, which is why a trunk is the wrong garment for a ten-hour shift on your feet or a long walk in summer. What you get back is a cleaner line, less fabric, less heat and a garment that reads as neat rather than athletic. Whether that is a good trade depends entirely on what your day looks like, and anyone who tells you the trunk is simply the best style has not thought about it for long enough.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a trunk and a boxer brief?
Leg length, and that is genuinely all. A trunk finishes high on the thigh, usually within a few centimetres of the crotch, while a boxer brief runs partway down it. The shorter leg gives a squarer look under close trousers, less heat and less bulk; the longer one gives more chafe protection on long days and more support during sport. Construction, fabric and waistband are otherwise identical between the two styles at any given brand.
Why do my trunks ride up?
Because the hem is finishing just below the widest part of your thigh, so every stride pushes it upward until it settles above that point. A shorter leg fixes this and a tighter one does not. Heavier or more muscular thighs make it far more likely, as does a folded and stitched leg hem, which curls and grips after washing. Look for a bound, flatlocked or knitted-in leg finish, and a leg that starts above your thigh's widest point rather than below it.
Are trunks good under a suit?
Yes, and they are usually the best choice. A short leg means there is no hem sitting halfway down the thigh to print through a fine trouser, and no fabric bunching behind the knee when you sit. Choose a smooth fibre such as lyocell, modal or a fine long staple cotton rather than a thick jersey, avoid a bulky waistband under a fitted waistcoat, and stay away from anything with a raised logo band that will show through summer weight cloth.
What size trunk should I buy?
Measure your hips with a tape where the waistband will actually sit, which is lower than where you measure for trousers, and use the brand's own chart rather than converting from a trouser size. Continental brands often use numeric sizing and generally run smaller than the letter you are used to. If you are between sizes, size up in anything with low elastane and stay true in anything with five percent or more.