The Mens Underwear Blog

Our first advertiser was www:tigerunderwearstore.com so I need to preface this review with that info so you will know we are not completely objective.  Nevertheless we at www.themensunderwearblog.com will give you our honest opinion of every brief we review every time.  We give specific information that will help the underwear consumer make their decision.

www.tigerunderwearstore.com’s 100% cotton brief is a full rise brief, meaning that it covers more of the torso from a little lower on the leg to almost the belly button.  Full rise briefs are not like boxer briefs–they don’t cover the whole upper leg.  This is the style of brief that was made popular in the 1960′s and 1970′s by all the department stores including Wards, Sears, JC Penney and many other lesser brands.  The advantage of these full rise briefs has always been their comfort  andwww.JCPenney.com still makes the Stafford Brief which is full rise.  We will review those another time.

The Tiger 100% cotton brief comes with a blue dashed waistband that mimics the high quality elastic used in the past.  For vintage brief fans these will be a bonanza because they look and feel just like the briefs from the dept store hay days.  The cotton is excellent quality.   The briefs also come in single back , double back and four panel “training briefs”.  We reviewed only the double back and found them to be unusually well fitting and comfortable.  Something about the construction of two back seams combined with more cotton on the double seat made these indeed a great wear!  We did notice however that the blue dash briefs ran a bit small.  The 34-36 we got were more like 32,  so order larger sizes than you might think if you decide to try Tigers.   Also it appears these were a limited edition brief and some sizes are not available.  www.tigerunderwearstore.com has been running a sale on the blue dash brief for a while but they tell me it ends on June 1. 

We give them four out of five stars!  The sizing issue is the only thing that keeps us from giving them our coveted five stars GOLDEN BRIEF AWARD.  The staff atwww.tigerunderwearstore.com assures me that we will want to give the GOLDEN BRIEF  to their 50% Poly/Cotton Red Dash Brief.  We shall see.

I am traveling in Thailand and so it is time to bring some international flavor to our blog.  By “Thai Boys” briefs I am referring to the underwear worn by older teen guys up to their late twenties.  Thai guys are frequently called boys up to that age not as a put down but probably to us Westerners they look very young.   Boys here in Thailand still like briefs though it appears they are also wearing more colorful boxers and boxer briefs.  As I was walking down the street of Pattaya in early morning I saw everyone’s laundry out of the street drying.  Usually foreigners are not up early in Thailand so this was a good time for the Thais to dry their clothes in privacy.  I could see that the vast majority of male underwear was briefs most of them white briefs from a wide variety of manufacturers including Calvin Klein  www.calvinklein.com and some colors from  Ginch Gonch www.ginchgonch.com, however most brands were not known to me.  The Thai boy body looks best in small tight fitting clothes including underwear so I think that will be the norm here for the foreseeable future.

For fans of the full rise retro brief from Tiger Underwear, you’ll be happy to know during the past year Tiger Underwear has been developing a multi colored men’s and boy’s brief  made in America. They say there will be a double seat and four panel version in all sizes.  This is a bit revolutionary since most briefs are now made in Asia or Central America.   Tiger has come up with a patriotic marketing campaign featuring what else for red, white and blue briefs– American Briefs Made by Americans for Americans!  They sent us some pictures of the manufacturing process so take a look at the first ones off the production line.  Tell us what you think.  They promised us a review pair of red ones so we can fly our colors proudly!

When you look at a pair of y front briefs,  it all looks like a pretty simple concept doesn’t it– that’s because you wear these briefs every day of your life and they are a common place piece of clothing in our daily culture– we see them in our drawer,  we see them advertised in the junk mail, we see them on bill boards, we see them in movies or television.  And if you buy basic white ones from Hanes or Fruit of the Loom, you might pay as little as $2-3.00 for them.   So what can be complicated about making them– they are so commonplace and so inexpensive.   Ask the Chinese or Bangladeshi textile factory worker or surprisingly the Los Angeles garment district worker what it takes to make a pair of jockey shorts or tightie whities.  

We did that– we interviewed  Clarice, seamstress at a garment factory in Los Angeles and this is what we found out.  She found it entertaining that people think its easy to make these things.  First of all she said:  you have to have a pattern and that pattern has be individualized for every size you are making.  Men’s and boy’s briefs were once made in about 20 sizes by JC Penney now most manufacturers make at least 10 sizes so that means 10 patterns.  Someone has to make a piece of paper for each panel of the brief so if you have a double back brief, it has a front panel, a back panel, a side panel, a crouch panel and these panels curve around the human form and have to meet each other perfectly –other wise you get a bad fitting brief.  We have all had the experience of a brief that crawls up your butt– thats because the pattern was made wrong.

 And of course before you can even make a size you have to have a design that everyone wants– a low rise brief, mid rise brief, full rise brief, bikini brief, thong brief etc. The cloth has to be selected: color, cotton or poly cotton or lycra or spandex.  Then the design cut has to be appropriate for a man or for a boy.   All this has to be worked out before the pattern is made.  Before actual production can begin, the underwear company will want a sample made from their design to actually fit to the human body.  Does the new brief  provide the right and comfortable fit for the man or boy wearing them.  Just because the designer liked the look and the pattern maker made it to what seemed the right size doesn’t mean it will actually fit and look good on a real underwear consumer.

 Well these are just the first steps in the process.    In future articles Clarice will fill us in on every step that it takes to make the underpants we call briefs.

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Take a look at these three full rise brief designs from one of our advertisers.  They asked us to get your feedback on what you thought of them.   We like the red one with white taping. 

 Its classic, yet flashy and stylish but not too outlandish for your average American man or boy.  The pink and blue one is quite beautiful and probably best for our gay readers but let me know what you think. 

We haven’t see anything like these briefs on the market.  Have you?  Please leave comments and we can discuss this and give the info to our advertiser.

H and M is a fairly new men’s and women’s clothing chain that is found in most large city mall’s in the U.S.  sometimes near the priciest store’s such as Versace and Prada,  but H and M really is very middle of the road priced and their men’s briefs are an exceptional value- particularly if you are into colors.  

We bought a pair of H and M briefs with the logo Lucky in Love on them in their Manhattan store and were very surprised at the fun look, the comfortable fit and the high quality material.   These are mid rise briefs made of a cotton lycra blend.  They move with with you and don’t bind anywhere.  If you are fan of full rise briefs,  these may be acceptable as a lower rise alternative but they are not as comfortable as full rise briefs.   Nevertheless when you want to show off your briefs,  these are the ones. Women and men– buy these for your boyfriends!  It will make them smile.   At $7.99 they were a bargain.  We give these briefs a 4 out 5 stars in our Golden Brief Award System. H and M has a bunch of stores through the US and they are also on line at www.hm.com though I was not able to find an American website selling H and M briefs.  Their web presence looks like it is set up more for foreign sales and wanting their American customers to go into local stores.

We don’t know what it is but white briefs look perfect with dark colored jeans whether they be black as in the picture above or with blue jeans.  It’s a totally traditional look but still sexy and wholesome and somehow mysterious.  To see a pair of jeans and white briefs left casually by their owner on the floor of a bedroom or the gym just speaks of American style: casual, carefree, intimate, everyday and a little bit naughty.  Most men and boys have been taught to hide their white briefs inside their jeans when they get undressed as if it’s being immodest to have someone see them.  Well maybe it is immodest but it’s fun to display your wears so to speak and truly no one is harmed by it.  From Tom Cruise in the film Risky Business to David Beckham in a current print ad to Michael Jackson’s white Calvin Klein Briefs being shown in the tabloids—briefs are made to be shown off with jeans!  So show your colors or your whites to the world.