Aren’t All Boxer Briefs Created Equal?
Quick answer is no! They sure as hell are not. Let’s get into it.
Performance Comfort Cost
In the boxer brief world, you have two camps with many different styles in those camps. The two camps are performance, and comfort.
The primary difference that you will find is in fabrics, and weaves. Also, sometimes where your seams are placed, and how they are placed. I would argue that good seam design could be used in either type. However, marketing sometimes has them at different needs for different occasions.
Then on top of that you have the cost. Better fabrics, and better designs with stitching normally equal higher costs. You also have to throw marketing in there as well. As just in about everything. There are some brands that are marketed really well, but are not worth the justified cost. As specific niche underwear brands become more prevalent. I could see this being a bigger theme.
The fabrics and weaves
A pretty consistent fabric between both camps is some version of spandex. When you have a pair you will normally have either Spandex, Lycra, or Elastane. It is the fabric that makes your underwear stretch. Chances are Spandex or it’s variants will be your secondary or tertiary fiber.
The difference is in your primary, and sometimes secondary fabric. Your comfort BBs will have some type of “soft” fabric. By far the most popular is cotton. After that, the world is an endless possibilities of which include: Modal, viscose, bamboo, etc. The goal of these types of fabrics is to usually provide maximum comfort, moisture wicking, and odor management. Respectively in that order.
Performance fabrics are primarily concerned with moisture wicking, odor management, and comfort. Respectively in the order I just provided as well. Their primary job is to pull as much moisture away from your body as fast possible, and dry it as fast as possible. The two most popular fabrics I have seen in performance BBs are polyester, and nylon. Sometimes they will actually be combined in performance fabrics. Many of the better performance BBs have these fabrics in a mesh weave.
The mesh weave allows a greater amount of air flow, and moisture collection. However, it does come at a cost. The weaves at least for my legs, pull on my hair. My hair goes through the larger holes, and it can become quite itchy all depending on the weave. Some are more comfortable than others. You just have to pay attention to your weave.
Weaves seem to be pretty prevalent among good pairs of underwear. However, there are some higher end brands like SWAV which doesn’t use a weave, but will use high end fabrics to do the work of a weave.
Cost
It usually comes down to a good amount of cost too. You can’t get a eight dollar pair of BBs that have brand new synthetic fibers that have been pattened out of the ying-yang. There are definitely diminishing returns, and sometimes no returns in going higher. You do have to ask yourself. If your one pair of underwear that was $28 is really worth more than a decent 2-pack at $24.
Although I have had expensive underwear that didn’t really do that well just because they were associated with a well known brand. The nice thing about underwear is that you can still find less expensive (not really cheap) good options from brands that aren’t marketed as heavily.
Sizing
This might seem crazy, hear me out though. All depending on what company you buy your underwear from you can vary what size you need to get. In a pair of standard Hanes I am a large. In a pair of Jinshi’s I am a 2XL. One of those reasons is that Hanes is American sizes, and they are larger. Another reason is because in a pair of standard cotton Hanes. I am going to want it smaller, to cling more. Jinshi’s on the hand are already built to cling, and they are asian sizing which runs smaller. So, you are going to want a little space.
This can change your entire experience with a pair. So if you have never worn a specific pair of underwear make sure to check the sizes, and compare them with your pant sizes. Don’t take it for granted that just because you were one size in a Hanes. You will be the same size in a different pair.
Why does all this matter?
All depending on what you are doing you might choose to have two different styles of BBs. You might want to have the comfort BBs when you are sitting around the house. If you have a job that doesn’t produce a ton of sweat, or are going to go through a number of hours of where you aren’t going to sweat. You might opt for a comfort pair. You might be different sizes in each of those pairs.
If you are going to work out, or have a job in which you sweat a ton. You might need to grab a pair of performance BBs.
All of this will cost you. So say you work out 3 times a week. You might be able to get away with your standard 2 weeks supply of comfort BBs. While you only need 3–5 performance BBs. If you hit the gym 5 days a week you might be going for 5–10 pairs of performance BBs, and 2 weeks of comfort BBs all depending on how much you do underwear.
If you are like me. A person who sweats all the time. You will probably have an equal amount if not more performance BBs. My ratio actually runs much higher. I think around 60 percent performance BBs to 40 percent comfort.
The Holy Grail
What I am looking for. That I haven’t found yet is a pair that unions perfectly between the two. I want underwear that wicks moisture, and beats chafe. While, still is still insanely comfortable. If possible I would want it below a twenty dollar price point.
I’m pretty sure this unicorn pair of underwear doesn’t exist, but I am going to try my heart out to find it.