Men's Boxers (Underwear)

Cloth crossed at right angles is what makes a boxer a boxer. The fabric is woven rather than knitted. It has no stretch of its own and stands away from the leg instead of following it. A full seat, an open hem near mid thigh, an elastic waistband and a button fly complete the design, and none of it touches you except at the waist.

Cotton poplin around 3 to 4 ounces per square yard is the standard cloth, light enough for air to pass through and thin enough to dry quickly. Since nothing stretches, the pattern has to supply the room. That is why the seat is cut wide and the leg opening runs 20 inches or more around. That opening is the airflow you are paying for. One or two buttons close the fly. This is the closure for woven cloth, because a woven placket cannot spring back the way a knit does. Nothing shaped sits inside the front, so support is really zero, and that is a design decision rather than a fault.

Knit Boxers copy the outline in stretch jersey and behave nothing like this, following the thigh and creasing rather than hanging clear. Boxer Briefs replace drape with grip. Briefs delete the leg. Of every style in the drawer, the woven boxer moves the most air and does the least work.

Sleep is the best use, along with lounging and still, humid days at home. Men who find close fabric irritating get relief here that no fitted style offers. Slim trousers are the wrong pairing, since loose woven cloth bunches into ridges at the thigh and prints through. Running, lifting or a fast walk will remind you inside a mile that nothing is holding anything.

Check that the waistband is covered in fabric rather than left as bare elastic, because bare elastic twists inside its casing after a few washes and never lies flat again. Look for a gusset, meaning a diamond panel set into the crotch, which stops four seams meeting at one stress point. Tug a button, since a thread cross holds it for years and a loose loop does not. Wash warm rather than hot, as woven cotton shrinks 3 to 5 percent in a hot cycle and it loses length first.