Under Pockets – boxer briefs – black – Large

105

Material: 95% Cotton, 5% Spandex, which is something we’ve seen before often, and for good reason – usually comes across as a lightweight, soft, stretchy bland. The material for this particular pair doesn’t feel quite as breathable as some other pairs, but that’s maybe splitting hairs, it’s still pretty nice.
Aesthetic: Pretty utilitarian with the all-black look and the plain white statement of the brand name along the waistband. The white pocket openings fit into that utilitarian aesthetic as well with the squared-off appearance.
Waistband: Very nicely stretchy, and a bit taller than some other waistbands, but otherwise pretty typical.
Pouch: Under Pockets relies on a very traditional boxer design with the vertical fly and not a ton of shape. However, there is a bit of a cupped shape at the bottom of the fly structure, so that’s kinda nice. As with a lot of traditional boxer briefs, though, the lower “corners” of the pouch area often do not come up against the torso, especially after general movement, so you may often get a bit of an open, unsupported feeling from this pair.
Backside: Pretty plain, as it’s also all black, which has the added effect that any shaping the backside does do would be lost visually. Like many mass-produced boxer briefs, though, there isn’t much shaping going on back here anyway. There is, of course, a little bit of visual intrigue with the white pocket openings providing a little bit of visual punch near your hips, so that’s nice I guess.
Legs: Okay, love these legs. =-)
Other: The major gimmick of this brand is, of course, the built-in pockets on the sides of the underwear. I won’t talk about whether this is a practical, useful idea or not, but what I will say is that these pockets have been executed wonderfully. They’re not bulky in any way, and yet are fairly sizeable, and the extra fabric is still nicely lightweight and soft. The pockets are worked into the pair by having vertical panels of fabric on each side of the pair, and the extra seams are entirely unnoticeable. Honestly, I’d like to see more brands realize that features on the sides of a pair can offer design flexibility that features in front or in back may not be as good for.
Overall: 3.5/5 – Honestly, a pretty solid pair overall, pockets or not! The potential lack of support between the legs is the only minor issue, as that can be largely avoided if you’re not moving around much (or if you’re moving around quite a lot and the ease of motion is a good thing).
Great for: Loungewear, Everyday wear
Good for: Activewear

Yes I splayed my fingers to make the pocket obvious

Mossimo – low-rise boxer brief – Red – Small

100

Yes, it’s my 100th review! For this special occasion, I’m taking it all the way back to the very first “stylish” pair I bought for myself back in early grad school…

Material: 95% Cotton, 5% Spandex, moderately soft and very stretchy! The fabric has a bit of a sheet-y nature that makes it feel like there’s definitely some synthetic fabric in there, so it doesn’t pull off the cotton-y feel that many other pairs with similar blends do, but it’s still very nice. It’s certainly lightweight!
Aesthetic: Simple, but the bright white piping framing the bold main fabric provides a great visual pop that helped lead me to buying a full rainbow of this line back when I first started getting “into” underwear; this red pair was actually my very first “nice” underwear purchase.
Waistband: Pretty typical as waistbands go, especially for a big-box-store, and thankfully it’s not too stiff. The pure, bright white is a nice stylish choice to not make it look boring, and it stays on at that low-rise position fairly well.
Pouch: Being a big-box option, these briefs sport a fairly flat front; that said, the way the front panels of the fly are constructed combined with the stretchy nature of the fabric means that the front panels do a good job of conforming to your junk, giving a nice cupping feeling with a little bit of shape to the “pouch” even if it’s not obviously built-in. And the fly! It’s been a while since I reviewed a pair with a fly, (#86 I think,) especially a traditional vertical fly like this pair sports (#79, which was before a break or two). The fly here is very well-done, incredibly easy to use with just one hand, and as I’ve demonstrated on a few other briefs in the past, it even allows you to pull 100% of your junk through without any uncomfortable tightness from below or side-to-side! This is how you pull off traditional vertical flies, everyone.

Backside: Just a plain, solid color, so not much to look at, though the bright white waistband helps in that sense. The fabric is also tight enough that the back doesn’t look like an unflattering expanse, and the little arch between the legs also provides a bit of nice visual structure.
Legs: Fairly good length, but IMO could be a bit longer to cover my big thighs. The hems are quite comfortable! Very little difference between them and the rest of the legs. They’ll roll up a little bit over time – again, could be longer, would fix that aspect – but it’s a fairly small problem with this pair.
Other: Sadly, Mossimo’s agreement to sell with Target died a while ago, and I don’t think it’s easy to get these pairs any more. That’s a shame since this pair (this entire line, actually) holds a special place in my heart as what started my collection. And, honestly, for being a big-box-ish line, these have held up amazingly well over the years! (Moreso than the original Andrew Christian pair I ever ordered.)
Overall: 3.5/5 – a very solid generic pair to have in your collection! Especially if you want your “everyday” selection to have that nice pop of color.
Great for: Everyday wear
Good for: Loungewear, Activewear(?), Sex wear(?)

Mao Jiang – transparent mesh boxers – Lilac – Large

099

Material: The website I ordered these from – Queer in the World – only says these are “a nylon/spandex blend for the ultimate in comfort and style”, and the tag on the pair itself doesn’t give the details, so I have no clue exactly what nylon/spandex blend these actually are! The fabric, though, definitely is incredibly comfy and breathable, and doesn’t have the mesh-bumps problem that can occur sometimes. The stretch is amazing, as is just the feel of the fabric, and of course it’s incredibly lightweight and breathable, so I think fabric style this is a win.
Aesthetic: Between the mesh and the diamond pattern and the color, this looks a lot like lingerie to me, and it’s quite fun!
Waistband: The actual structure of the waistband is covered with a thin layer of the purple fabric, so it’s incredibly soft and comfy as it sits a bit above the hips.

Pouch: Nothing super-impressive about this pouch, but it’s still quite a good one overall! It’s got a nice shape, and the fabric feels great on your junk, on top of being light and stretchy enough for you to very easily wear your willie up or down; I think the tip of the pouch is slightly better arranged for down-wearing than up-wearing, if the pictures are anything to go by, but it’s a very small difference. There isn’t much to the underside of the pouch but the pair overall still provides a moderate amount of support.
Backside: Thanks to the mesh, you get to see just about everything! And even then, the pair provides just enough support for the back to look fairly nice, even reigning in my own personal flab back there moderately well. You can see the tag, of course, but I don’t think it’s too distracting.
Legs: I like the length here as made, (and of course the fabric is very comfy,) though they could be a bit longer too. The legs are the one area where the fit of these isn’t excellent, as you can see that they roll up a little bit in some of the images above, and the lower leg hem is definitely a bit narrower than my thigh circumference… Thankfully, the fabric is good enough that these issues don’t cause much discomfort, so it doesn’t bother me too much. I could have in theory tried buying another size up, which is honestly a considering you definitely need to make when buying Asian brands, but the waistband and pouch fit me quite nicely, so I think a size up (XL with waist 35″-37″ instead of the L with waist 33″-35″) might have been a bit much. IDK

Overall: 4/5 – Very fun, very comfy lingerie boxers! Sizing might be a bit of an issue, as might fabric issues if you have those concerning nylon or spandex. Simply getting some of these for yourself could be interesting too – I can’t find any other distributors aside from Queer in the World, where they’re currently on sale for $13. Definitely try them out if you’re looking for that sheer bedroom look!
Great for: Sexy wear
Good for: Loungewear, Everyday wear, Sleepwear

Xtremen – Classic Stripes Boxer Brief – White Stripes – Medium

098

Material: 80% Nylon, 10% Polyester, 10% Spandex, which definitely feels synthetic and on the thick side, but is surprisingly soft and breathable despite it. It’s not weightless by any means, but I honestly kinda like it – which is a bit of a surprise to myself, as I had originally slated this pair for my Sales page before double-checking every pair I thought to sell and deciding I actually liked this one!
Aesthetic: Racing stripes are always fun. X-D It’s an interesting choice on Xtremen’s part to make the stripes go in different directions on each panel of the fabric, but I think it works out amazingly well! The stripes on the pouch really highlight the pouch’s contouring, especially if the pouch is being well-filled, and the horizontal stripes on the inner thighs draw your attention there just by being perpendicular, and it’s always fun looking right between the legs.
Waistband: Fairly typical as far as waistbands go I guess! Both soft enough and sturdy enough without going too far in either direction.
Pouch: Really nice shape! Not sure what else to say – neither “out there” or lackluster, just a very nice pouch. =-)
Backside: The Y-arrangement of the seams here makes the backside look a little bit messy because of just how obviously the stripes do not line up (and also because the stripes here are no longer vertical) but I still think it looks pretty fun overall. The material and cut do a good job of holding you in with a sleeker overall profile and such, with just a bit of cheek emphasis on the lower middle panel.
Legs: I like the length here for the most part. I will say that, like with the backside, the material and the cut work together to keep you tightened in, so the legs provide a sort of constant gentle squeeze, but it’s not focused on the hems so it’s honestly quite comfortable. The only problem is that these legs will roll up over time, but it takes a while, so that’s not too bad.
Overall: 3.5/5 – If you like your underwear feeling on the snug side, this is an amazing pair, with both the fabric and the overall look being pretty good just in general so it can be fun for just about everyone.
Great for: Sexy wear
Good for: Everyday wear, Loungewear

Box Menswear – F**k You Boxer Briefs – print – Medium

096

Material: 95% Cotton, 5% Elastane, and definitely comfortable! The material stretches nicely, and largely just molds itself to your shape. You can feel the fabric there, but it’s not constraining in any way, and has just a hint of cool feeling to it.
Aesthetic: Not sure exactly how to put into words the aesthetic here, as this pair looks somewhat newspaper-ish from a distance, with the brand text almost looking like a headline along the waistband. Between the print, you can also make out the hems fairly clearly, which is a little visually distracting, and not in a good way. Still, you get to read the “F**k You” text if you take a closer look, and getting to take a closer look at a pair of underwear in wear is always nice! (The print is not censored like I’m doing here.)
Waistband: A bit taller than most waistbands, consistent in that sense with the waistband on the Box briefs. It’s a little bit of a softer construction, though, and a bit more plain on the inside too. Generally wears at or slightly below your waist.
Pouch: As with many boxer-briefs, the pouch is stretched out and spacier near the bottom where it connects to the legs than the pouch on comparable briefs are. Interestingly, though, I like this pouch better because the fabric and stretch and mold around your junk better than the brief I previously reviewed. In other words,the pouch here can still provide support around the lower areas quite well, and more so based on conforming to your junk rather than conforming your junk to it.
Backside: The backside here does give your cheeks some good definition on the underside, and the print is nice to look at, but I would say here that the pair doesn’t do an A+ job of giving your cheeks a good overall shape – IMO, my rump definitely looks bigger in the somewhat-flabby way in this pair. That said, it still feels very good to wear!
Legs: I like the length on these, and they’re generally pretty comfortable, including well-made hems at the end of each legs. The comfort of those hems has maybe allowed them to more-easily roll up, which they will do a fair amount, as shown below.
Other: Yes, they do have a pair that says “F**k Me” on it too. That one is typically sold out, while this one is typically not.
Overall: 3.5/5 – While I’m only giving these a fairly average rating, largely based on the less-flattering backside and rolling-up leg hems, I still quite like how these feel to wear. Definitely a nice pair to wear, and if you can get the “F**k Me” instead of the “F**k You” pair, all the more fun!
Great for: Loungewear
Good for: Everyday wear, Sleepwear

AlphaBox – Everyday Fit Boxers – Red Modal – Medium

095

Material: 95% Modal, 5% Elastane, and oh my god this is sooooo comfy! To be fair, it’s not one of those “can hardly tell it’s even there” underwear, but they’re incredibly soft and lightweight and kinda cooling too, so it’s just an amazing fabric blend.
Aesthetic: There’s nothing super-flashy about this pair, but the material itself has a well-put-together look that makes the pair look classy and intentional even as it’s just one big solid color. The fact that it’s an H-fly on the outside helps with that intentional and somewhat intriguing look, which is added to by the waistband in three ways: a slightly different shade of red, a thin, refined blue stripe rounding the top, and the classy, almost cryptic AlphaBox logo quite off-center on the left hip. Basically, it’s a pair that won’t necessarily earn a second look, but if you give it that second look, you’ll almost immediately think “oh, that’s a nice pair”.
Waistband: Nothing incredibly outstanding about the waistband here, just incredibly comfortable with how soft & stretchy it is.
Pouch: Ah, this pouch! AlphaBox calls it their “3D Pocket”, which is a bit of a misnomer if you compare it to some of the truly 3D shapes on other pairs I’ve reviewed, but that’s just what you see on the outside. The inside of this pouch is absolutely amazing. It’s a pseudo-dual-pouch design supported by what is effectively an internal C-ring (though much looser than one would normally be) combined with the aforementioned H-fly up top, simultaneously allowing for having your junk kept away from your legs (though not necessarily away from each other) and allowing for easy access from up top for you to do your business in the bathroom quite easily. In the above pictures, I’ve let my junk mostly just sit together near the bottom of the pouch, while the two pic below show how it fits when wearing your willie upward, and both arrangements feel completely natural and accommodated. I really don’t think I can find a bad thing to say about this pouch.

Backside: Like the waistband, nothing outstanding here, just a generally high-quality, comfortable constructions and a simple look. It might be a function of how long the legs are, but the pair does a good job of providing a nice visual curve to your backside; for me in particular, the pair actually makes me look like my cheeks have a good shape and tone to them even when I’m a bit more jiggly on my own without any cover.
Legs: I’ve mentioned on the blog before that I love longer legs, and these are no exception! The material is very comfy and stretches over my big thighs quite nicely. The hems here, though, provide the only (and very minor) little drawback to the pair, as there’s a thin line of more solid, less stretchy fabric in the hems here. It’s not something you’ll notice much in general, but I’ll occasionally feel a bit of a slightly-cutting squeeze when I sit down sometimes. The AlphaBox site explicitly mentions that their hems are finished in a way so as to prevent the legs from ever riding up, and to that effect they’ve done a great job, so I definitely appreciate that!
Other: I have yet to find AlphaBox pairs (either the Everyday featured here or the Performance line, one of which is available on my Sales page) on sale anyway, so the price point is a bit steep at the moment at over $30/pair, but DAMN if it isn’t worth it!
Overall: 5/5 – the only reason you wouldn’t like this pair is if you simply don’t like boxer briefs to begin with. And, in which case, I’d say you’re missing out. Get one of these pairs.
Great for: Everyday wear, Loungewear
Good for: Sleepwear

This model is sporting both a Box boxer and a CK t-shirt! Docking this outfit points for using different brands, but it actually goes together quite well with the colors – the black “BOX” on the boxer matches the t-shirt color, while the white of the CK name matches the boxer main color. Not a pairing I would have gone with, but it works pretty well!

I’m a bit surprised in the fact that I haven’t reviewed any of my Box underwear yet – I have multiple pairs and, when I got them, thought I had written a review or two. Apparently not! Anyway, Box is a pretty good brand for basic, everyday underwear, with one or two more fun pairs thrown in with various prints. The fabric is generally good, and as you can see from the picture here, the pouches are usually pretty good too! I think this model would do himself a favor if he juuuust smoothed the boxer out a bit better to get out those wrinkles, but you can probably tell from those that the fabric is fairly soft, so I guess that’s good!

Boxer terminology

Briefs are pretty straightforward. While bikinis and tangas are similar to true briefs, each of those has a fairly distinctive feature that separates if from being a brief (e.g. bikinis are nothing but waistband at the hips). Thongs, g-strings, and jockstraps are all similar to briefs in front but very different in back. The only real grey area in brief-adjacent things is the existence of jock-briefs; there’s a sliding scale of brief/brief-with-a-hole/jock-brief/jockstrap, but it’s also a fairly straightforward continuum there, so not a ton of confusion.

Boxers though? Holy hell, that’s a mess!

There’s little to no standard as to what brands call their underwear with legs. Before I started ordering lots of underwear, this is what I thought we had:
—Boxers: long-ish legs, completely flat front, has a fly that’s usually buttoned but sometimes just open, and fairly loose (though not always)
—Boxer briefs: long-ish legs, some attempt (even if minimal) of acknowledging anatomy e.g. nice pouch and/or fly (like traditional briefs), and usually somewhat skintight
—Trunks: shorter than the others occasionally to the point of approaching briefs, usually have a good pouch, usually do *not* have a fly, also fairly skintight

Is that how men’s underwear these days actually works? Not in the slightest! I’ve seen long, Y-Fly pairs advertised as “trunks”, I’ve seen tight, square-cut pairs advertised as “boxers”, and a ton of craziness in between. That’s not even mentioning the “midcuts” that come up – basically my idea of “trunks”, but longer.

Does anyone else want to try making sense of all of this? Because I’ve mostly given up at this point. X’-D I still have to categorize things on the blog here, so that’s why this got on my mind.

Andrew Christian – Tighty Whitey Punked V-Clipse Boxer – Orange – Medium

087

Material: 95% Cotton, 5% Spandex, and about what you would expect – very soft, nicely stretchy, lightweight in not incredibly breathable. Honestly pretty similar to the ///Crew Brief/// from the other day, as well as many other more traditionally-made AC underwear.
Aesthetic: The entire “Tighty Whitey Punked” line is all about high contrast colors while having the general profile of traditional tighty whities. The latter point works much better for Punked Briefs – not as much for a Boxer like this, though! And that’s even before you look around back to see the “V-Clipse” aspect of it. (Eclipse, “mooning”, get it?) The orange with cyan piping here almost gives this particular pair of pop-y ’80s vibe, which I think is really fun.
Waistband: Pretty typical as waistbands go, though maybe a tad softer and stretchier than some others.
Pouch: While I love the look of the fly on here, it’s actually completely fake, so that’s not quite so fun. Inside the pouch, though, is AC’s “Show-It” tech with a built-in C-ring, which ostensibly help get your junk up and forward, away from your legs. In practice, this pair can accomplish that well, but this issue here is that the C-ring is so high in the pair, you really need to hike your balls up to get it inside the ring and into the front pouch, which is a tad uncomfortable. The effect is impressive, though! And even if you don’t have the lower edge of the C-ring pull up tightly under your junk, it’s easy enough to just let your willie sit in the front pouch – though wearing the pair this way somewhat defeats the point of the Show-It design.

Backside: I honestly really love the unique shape of the opening back here! This needs to be done more often, as it frames your cheeks really well.
Legs: Barely any length on these, making the pair basically a square cut. While the leg openings are comfortable enough in construction, they’re a little tight on me.
Overall: 3/5 – I would rate these much higher if the built-in C-ring wasn’t so high, as that makes the pair hard for me to wear, especially compared against some of my other AC Show-It pairs. Still, it’s an incredible look, and if your personal anatomy is a bit different than mine, these could work really well!
Great for: Sexy wear
Good for: Sex wear(?)

Seven7 – Boxer Briefs – multiple colors – Medium//Large

085

Material: 93% Cotton, 7% Elastane, overall has a somewhat “flat” feel to it but it still soft and stretchy enough to be perfectly comfortable for everyday wear. Not super breathable, but that doesn’t feel like a big knock against it – this definitely feels like a “office underwear” situation where you wouldn’t pick this pair because you weren’t going to be in a situation where breathability would be an issue anyway.
Aesthetic: Generally very simple; it of course depends on exactly which pair you pick as some have various prints, but even those have a color palette that’s more muted and reserved to begin with – again, a very sort of “office underwear” vibe to them.
Waistband: Fairly typical as waistbands go! Not quite as tall as some others, which I think might be trying to play into that “low profile” fashion trend, but it’s a small effect here.
Pouch: Basically none. X-D There’s just enough extra fabric on the two panels that make up the front so that it doesn’t feel constraining, but there’s absolutely no effort made to provide the pair a good shape to hold your junk. It’s fine for me since I like wearing my willie pointing up, but I can somewhat imagine that this isn’t a great pair for guys who like to point downward, though.
Backside: Surprisingly unlike the relatively flat front, this pair actually shows off a really nice curve for your backside! The plaid on this particular pair also gives some visual interest, so the flat-color pairs might be a bit less to look at, but would still come up under your cheeks quite nicely. There’s a print-on tag at the top of the inside of the back panel, and it’s impossible to notice while wearing – it almost looks like precision-dyed fabric as opposed to something that was printed on!
Legs: Fairly comfy! I’d personally like them to be a tad bit longer, but no real complaints.

Other: I’ve chosen to focus on the plaid pair with the pictures here, which is a Large, but the other four I have are a tan speckled pattern (Medium), light tan plain (Medium), slate (Large), and violet (Medium).
Overall: 3/5 – I went back and forth between 3 or something higher for this pair, because there’s really nothing wrong with it aside from a marginally flat pouch, and since it’s not really meant as a show-off-y pair (while still having a great backside) I didn’t want to count that against the pair too much. That said, it’s a very plain pair, so I ultimately settled on the 3 because I can’t see it being a pair people will every look forward to wearing at all. Still, it’s a great pair for everyday office wear and the like, so definitely worth having in your collection for those days you wake up feeling a little blah and just want something simple to pull on and get the day started. X-D Seven7 is a jeans brand before an underwear brand, so the practicality-minded nature of the pairs makes total sense in that context.
Great for: Everyday wear
Good for: Sleepwear, Loungewear(?)