Modern men’s underwear was majorly invented in the year 1930s. Coopers Inc. were the first ones who sold briefs for men in Chicago. Arthur Kneibler was the first name associated with the invention of men’s briefs. It is a Y-shaped men’s underwear which dispenses with leg section. From then on, it took thousands of years for the evolution of perfect men’s boxers, men’s briefs and various other men’s underwear styles that are worn today. Taking it all back to the ancient age, the evolution of men’s underwear is briefed below.
Loincloth –
Prehistoric men used leather to cover their private parts. However, the usage of first-ever underwear for men dates back to 7000 years ago when prehistoric men used leather to cover their bodies during short errands. Egyptian-art clearly shows that every man used loincloth of their own and even their leader worn a special type called ‘shendoh’.
Codpieces –
Variants of the loincloth came into existence during the middle ages. Braies, which were the loose fitted trousers, became prevalent, which has to be tied up to hold the cloth together. Though all of the designs were not very comforting, still they offered full coverage to the area. These early codpieces were very practical and had buttons and laces in the front which made urination for men easier. Codpiece existed until the mid-sixteenth century and was also made by using pads before tailing off in 1590. Till 1930, the term men’s boxer brief underwear and men’s thongs were not into existence. People used to wear tightly fitted male underwear which used to run down to their knees. Till Victorian age men wore this underneath to protect their manhood. It was in 1925 when Jacob Golomb, who was known to be the founder of boxing equipment, realized that the leather-belted trunks were not comfortable and ideal. As a result of that, he brought forward men’s trunks that had elastic waistbands.
It was after World War II when men’s boxers came. It was not a sudden invention as men’s boxers were not able to offer the comfort and coverage as drawers and union suits offered. People didn’t prefer to go for men’s boxers until some changes were done in the same and finally men’s boxers took off to challenge its sibling, men’s briefs. After a lot of experimentation done on men’s underwear, Kneibler finally introduced leg-less underwear which was a new snug to the population. It was in 1934, when the men’s underwear drawers, which were highly accepted and prevalent, changed forever. He was an executive designer at Wisconsin hosiery company Coopers, Inc. who gave the name “Jockey shorts” to his new invention of men’s underwear and took them to Chicago. Approx 30,000 pairs of jockey-shorts were sold in just three months. The company kept making the stock of new men’s underwear until 1971 when they changed its name to “Jockey”. In 1the 970-80s, a wind of new men’s underwear style blew, which brought new styles, cuts, and comfort in the industry. Labels like Calvin Klein took the honor to introduce new forms and colors in men’s underwear, which gave hype to something people hid under their pants into the sort of fashion which everyone flaunts nowadays. Men’s boxer and briefs came into the picture in 2008 when former Federal Reserve chairman revealed that men’s underwear plays a huge role in the economy’s health. Well, they were already there for a very long time but it takes time for men to have a better understanding of the styles. For example, it is said that men’s thongs have been there since Ancient times but even today, they’re looked down on by many men out there.
Since that time, men’s underwear became much of a fashion trend and a huge lot of inventions were made in the same. It is now that we have different types of male’s underwear for every occasion, depending upon the shape, size, and personality of the individual.
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