How have men’s underwear evolved?

Our ancestors have been around for about six million years now. Whereas, we evolved to homo sapiens only 200,000 years ago. During prehistoric times the only purpose of mankind was to survive and pass of its knowledge, heritage, and genes to the next generation. And if we take a look at history, humans are pretty good at it. Our ancestors have survived some of the hardest and extreme climates and situations and yet they survived and thrived and gave birth to a civilisation that we call society today. 

Prehistoric age

Civilisation started around 6000 years. However, undergarments for men were introduced 1000 years prior to civilisation. The first underwear was 7000 years old when men used to cover their loins using leather and fur what they salvaged after hunting. There are also many tombs found in Egypt with Egyptian pharaohs buried with their loincloths and undergarments. 

Middle age

During the middle age, variations of men’s underwear existed. One of them was Braies. Loose fitting trousers that extended from waist to around mid-calf and needed to be tied using laces around the waist and shins. In case one felt the need to remove his pants or trousers, these Braies provided coverage and maintained their decorum. However, taking a leak or pooping was pretty inconvenient because one had to keep untying the Braies and then tying them again once they were finished with the business. This issue gave rise to the Codpiece which was like opening in the front part and can be opened using snaps, buttons or laces and allowed men to attend the nature’s call without removing their undergarments. 

During the Victorian times till the 1930s, men mostly wore light fitting flannels called “drawers” which reached up to the knee and were tight fitted around the groin and thighs. During those times, underwear for wasn’t meant for comfort but as a mere piece of clothing to cover your manhood. And the drawers did their job of covering the genitalia pretty well. However, there was not much place for the groin to breath and move which resulted in discomfort because of bunching, rolling and sagging of the drawers inside the trousers.

Modern Age

It was only around 1925 when Jacob Golomb, Founder of the famous boxing gear and equipment company Everlast started to experiment with the trunks worn by boxers and pugilists. He replaced the leather-belted trunks with flexible elastic waistbands thus, giving birth to boxer shorts to make it more comfortable and well-fitting. However, his boxer shorts weren’t a huge success because it lacked support and leverage to the important groin parts while boxing.

It wasn’t until 1934 when a postcard changed the world of men’s underwear. Arthur Kneibler, Executive and designer at the Wisconsin Hosiery Company Coopers Inc, received a postcard from a friend depicting a picture of a man in a bikini-style bathing suit and asked Kneibler to see if it can be made into underwear for men. Kneibler introduced a legless, snug underwear with an overlapping Y fly which he dubbed as Jockey shorts because it provided the maximum level of support and comfort similar to men’s Jockstraps which we now known as men’s briefs. Then as we kept progressing and worked towards designing new men’s underwear designs to change the idea of men’s underwear from being just an article of clothing to hide under our pants to something which we can display.

In the ’70s and ’80s, Calvin Klein wanted to transform men’s drawers from a private clothing accessory to a lifestyle and fashion statement. Tighter and sexier cuts were introduced with flashy, loud and colorful designs.

And with the onset of the 20th-century men’s underwear evolved from being a piece of comfortable and supportive piece of clothing to being an important accessory in your wardrobe to express your wild and naughtier side. Now, we live the era of Men’s thong, Men’s G-strings and men’s bikini which are used for pleasure benefits. These kinds of exotic men’s underwear are generally designed with minimum fabric and with lace or string which runs around the buttocks leaving the back rare. These exotic men’s underwear is used by men who are into role-playing and pleasing acts. Now men don’t just feel comfortable in their underwear, they also express their pleasure using their underwear. 

Now the market of underwear for men is expanding like crazy with brand names like Agacio, Good Devil, Cover male and many more which you can find at Mensuas.