Tag

briefs

55 articles tagged briefs.

Underwear · 12 min read
The Postbag: How I Converted My Mates

Six letters on talking friends into briefs: a wager that went far too well, a five a side team, a wedding crisis and a son who got there first.
Underwear · 11 min read
The Postbag: Away Games, Sofas and Spare Rooms

Six letters on staying away from home: a two night bag that lasted nine days, a sleepover settled thirty years late, and a hospital gown with critics.
Underwear · 11 min read
Underwear After Surgery: What Actually Helps While You Heal

What to wear while you recover from an operation: waistbands away from the wound, when support is prescribed, and getting dressed without bending.
Underwear · 11 min read
Adaptive Underwear: Getting Dressed With Limited Mobility

Underwear you can actually get on and off with one hand, from a chair, or with help, and what a man who sits all day needs from a waistband and a seam.
Underwear · 11 min read
The Best Underwear for Big and Tall Men

The best underwear for big and tall men: why waistbands roll, why sizing up rarely fixes the rise, and which brands grade width and length separately.
Underwear · 11 min read
Uniqlo Airism vs Marks and Spencer: Which Everyday Brief Wins?

Uniqlo AIRism against Marks and Spencer briefs on heat, tailoring, waistbands, sizing and how each pair ages, with a plain answer about which one to buy.
Underwear · 11 min read
Calvin Klein vs Tommy Hilfiger: Are You Paying for the Waistband?

Calvin Klein vs Tommy Hilfiger underwear, compared at the seams: one parent company, two different cuts, and a waistband costing more than the cotton on it.
Underwear · 11 min read
Sunspel vs Hanro: Two Ways to Spend Serious Money

Sunspel vs Hanro, compared on fabric, cut, waistband and how long each pair lasts. Sea Island cotton against Austrian knitting, and an answer at the end.
Underwear · 11 min read
Is Zimmerli Actually Worth It?

Is Zimmerli underwear worth it? What the money buys, what it plainly does not, and the specific man who should own a pair rather than three cheaper ones.
Underwear · 11 min read
What to Wear Under Cycling Shorts

What to wear under cycling shorts is nothing, and here is why: the pad is built for bare skin, seams cause saddle sores, plus honest exceptions for commuters.
Underwear · 11 min read
What to Wear Under a Kilt

What to wear under a kilt, answered without the innuendo: what the historical record shows, what kiltmakers advise, and why a brief is right for a wedding.
Underwear · 11 min read
Underwear After Weight Loss or Weight Gain

Your body changed and the drawer did not. Underwear size after weight loss or gain: why hips beat waist, and why a stretched waistband never recovers.
Underwear · 11 min read
The Y-Front at Ninety

The Y-front went on sale in a Chicago window in a 1935 blizzard. Ninety years of Coopers, Lyle and Scott, and the fly that turns out to be proper engineering.
Underwear · 11 min read
The Underwear Index: The Recession Indicator in Your Drawer

The men's underwear index is better psychology than it is economics. Where the Greenspan story came from, and what the sales data does and does not show.
Underwear · 11 min read
How Calvin Klein Sold Sex in 1982

A pole vaulter, a wall on Santorini and a billboard over Times Square. What the 1982 Calvin Klein underwear campaign changed, and what it cost the garment.
Underwear · 11 min read
Before the Brief: Loincloths, Fundoshi and Four Thousand Years

Linen in Tutankhamun's tomb, leather trunks in a London well, a length of Japanese cotton: the history of underwear before briefs, over four thousand years.
Underwear · 11 min read
Why Underwear Is White

White underwear is not a taste, it is a manufacturing decision that outlived its reasons. Bleach, boil washes, dye cost, and why whites turn grey.
Underwear · 11 min read
Against the Multipack

A multipack turns one fit decision into six identical mistakes and stops you learning anything. The case against it, plus the one time it is the right buy.
Underwear · 11 min read
Why Men Are Frightened of Colour

Black, grey, navy, repeat. How men's clothing lost its colour, which excuses for the black drawer hold up, and why coloured underwear is the place to start.
Underwear · 11 min read
The Locker Room Strut: A Field Manual

A field manual for carrying yourself in a changing room: the approach, the bench, the pace, the eyes, the towel and the exit. The advice underneath is real.
Underwear · 11 min read
How to Convert Your Friends to Briefs Without Losing Them

How to get a friend to try briefs without losing the friend: why arguing backfires, the one moment a man is receptive, and the gift that actually lands.
Underwear · 11 min read
The Nine Men You Meet in Every Changing Room

A field taxonomy of the nine men in every changing room on earth, from the towel virtuoso to the sock archaeologist, and what each one knows that you do not.
Underwear · 11 min read
An Apology to Every Pair of Briefs I Have Wronged

An apology to seven garments I destroyed through carelessness, and the laundry lesson buried in each. A care guide in the shape of a confession.
Underwear · 11 min read
How to Buy Briefs in a Shop Without Dying of Embarrassment

Buying underwear in person means bad light, sealed boxes and sizes that disagree. Four things your hands can learn that a photograph cannot, in ten minutes.
Underwear · 11 min read
Things Men Say About Briefs, Ranked by How Wrong They Are

Eight myths about wearing briefs, ranked from the ones with a real point to the one stated with most confidence and least support. Fertility ranks worst.
Underwear · 11 min read
A Letter to My Nineteen Year Old Self, Who Wore Boxers

Twenty pairs in the drawer and four he actually liked. A letter to a younger man on switching from boxers to briefs, waistbands, multipacks and false comfort.
Underwear · 11 min read
So Someone Asked Why You Wear Briefs

A ladder of possible answers, from one word to the full lecture nobody asked for, and an honest account of the time I climbed all of it.
Underwear · 11 min read
The Emergency Pair: A Tribute

In praise of the emergency pair of underwear at the back of the drawer, the one nobody chose, and the drawer arithmetic that makes it unnecessary.
Underwear · 9 min read
The Drawer Audit: How Many Briefs You Need and When to Replace Them

How many pairs of underwear a man should own, worked out from your laundry. The rotation maths, five signs a pair is finished, and how to rebuild a drawer.
Underwear · 9 min read
What Doctors Actually Say About Underwear

Is tight underwear bad for you? What clinical guidance says about fungal infection, chafing and support after surgery, and which advice is invented.
Underwear · 11 min read
Slip: Why European Briefs Fit Differently

European briefs sizing explained: what a Swiss, German or Italian slip changes in the rise, side seam and front panel, and how to buy without guessing.
Underwear · 11 min read
Anatomy of a Brief: Every Panel, Seam and Stitch Explained

A brief is three to nine pieces of fabric. What each panel, seam and stitch does, and the sixty second inspection that tells good construction from cheap.
Underwear · 10 min read
The Fabric Bible: What Your Briefs Are Actually Made Of

Cotton, modal, merino, bamboo and the synthetics compared. The best fabric for men's underwear comes down to staple length, knit and the label's small print.
Underwear · 7 min read
The Trunk Is the Sweet Spot

Shorter than a boxer brief, more covered than a brief, and quietly the right answer for a lot of men who have never tried one. The case for the trunk.
Underwear · 6 min read
Briefs, Boxers, Boxer Briefs or Trunks: How to Choose

The five types of men's underwear, and a way to choose between them based on your trousers, your thighs and your day rather than a flatmate's opinion.
Underwear · 4 min read
Under the Suit: What to Wear on Your Wedding Day

What to wear under a wedding suit for fourteen hours in a hot room: the brief, the vest men forget, the socks, and the four problems each of them solves.
Underwear · 4 min read
The White Brief: A Cultural History

The white brief history, from 600 pairs sold in a Chicago blizzard in 1935 to the Y-front joke: why the most mocked garment still sells in huge numbers.
Underwear · 3 min read
Right Support, Right Sport: What to Wear for What You Do

Running, cycling, five-a-side, lifting, racquet sports and contact sport all ask different things of your underwear. A sport by sport guide to getting it right.
Underwear · 4 min read
Do Briefs Affect Fertility? What the Study Actually Says

Do briefs affect fertility? What the Harvard study measured, what it found about sperm count, what it could not show, and what to do while trying.
Underwear · 3 min read
Five Briefs Worth the Money

Zimmerli, Hanro, Schiesser, Sunspel and Le Slip Francais: the best premium men's briefs, what the money actually buys you, and when it is not worth spending.
Underwear · 3 min read
Where the World Wears Briefs: An Atlas

Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Italy, Germany, Japan: the countries where men wear briefs by default, and what that says about the ones that do not.
Underwear · 5 min read
How a Brief Should Actually Fit

Four checks that tell you a brief fits: where the waistband sits, what the leg opening does, how the front sits, and the sizing mistake most men make.
Underwear · 3 min read
The Locker Room Question: Getting Over the Fear of Being Seen in Briefs

Confidence wearing briefs is a changing room problem, not a clothing one. The spotlight effect, the evidence against the fear, and a plan for walking past it.
Underwear · 3 min read
Buy It Once: The Durability Guide to Briefs That Last Years

The most durable men's underwear fails in a predictable order: waistband, seams, then fabric. How to read construction, and the care that doubles its life.
Underwear · 3 min read
The Working Man's Brief: Underwear for the Site, the Van and the Ten-Hour Shift

The best underwear for work: why tradesmen have relied on briefs for a century, how ladders, kneeling and heavy trousers break loose pairs, and what lasts.
Underwear · 3 min read
The Sweat Article: Moisture-Wicking Fabrics, Explained Properly

Wicking is the most misused word in underwear marketing. What moisture wicking underwear for men really does, and how the fabrics compare for sweat.
Underwear · 3 min read
Briefs in the Wild: The Camping and Hiking Guide

Chafe ends more walking weekends than sprained ankles do. The best underwear for hiking and camping, why loose boxers fail on the trail, and what to pack.
Underwear · 3 min read
Making the Switch: The 14-Day Brief Plan

Three pairs, two weeks, one permanent upgrade. The day-by-day plan for switching to briefs: what to buy, what to expect, and why you won't go back.
Underwear · 3 min read
The Tanga: Europe's Best-Kept Secret

Between the bikini brief and the beach lies the tanga, the continental cut Europe wears without blinking. What it is, who it suits, and how to buy your first.
Underwear · 3 min read
Travel Light: The One-Bag Case for Briefs

Half the fabric, twice the pairs, dry by morning. Why briefs are the one-bag traveller's secret weapon, with the exact packing maths and the pairs to buy.
Underwear · 2 min read
Briefs for the Office: The Tailoring Argument

Slim trousers ended the underwear debate years ago. Why briefs are the only correct choice under tailoring, and the three pairs that work hardest from 9 to 5.
Underwear · 3 min read
Six Briefs That Built the Modern World

From Jockey's 1935 Y-front to Le Slip Français's stock-market debut: six heritage briefs from great houses, all still in production, all still worth buying.
Underwear · 4 min read
The Great Rebrand: How the Boxer Brief Won the Argument

Boxer briefs vs briefs: the popular style kept the brief's support and the boxer's name. How a rebrand won an argument the brief had already settled.
Underwear · 3 min read
Brief, Slip, Tanga, Jock: A Field Guide to Supportive Underwear

Brief, slip, bikini, tanga and jockstrap: the types of briefs in men's underwear, who each cut suits and where a first-timer should sensibly start.
Underwear · 5 min read
The Case for Briefs: Why They Should Be Every Man's Default

Briefs supported your grandfather, dress two billion men worldwide and win on every measure that matters. The full case for making briefs your default.