page_title: Boxer shorts
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Boxer shorts / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Man sagging with woven boxer shorts.
context_page_description: Boxer shorts are a type of undergarment typically worn by men.
  The term has been used in English since 1944 for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by boxers, for whom unhindered leg movement is very important. Boxers come in a variety of styles and design but are characterized by their loose fit.
context_section_description: In 1925, Jacob Golomb, founder of Everlast, designed elastic-waist trunks to replace the leather-belted trunks then worn by boxers. These trunks, now known as "boxer trunks", immediately became famous, but were later eclipsed by the popular Jockey-style briefs beginning in the late 1930s. Around 1947, boxer shorts started to gain in popularity again. The two styles, briefs and boxer shorts, had varying ratios of sales for the following forty years, with strong regional and generational preferences.
  In 1985, in the U.S.  men's briefs were more popular than boxers, with four times as many briefs sold compared to boxers. Around that time many of the men who preferred boxers were older men who became accustomed to wearing them during their time in the U.S. military, and best selling color of boxer shorts was white. Around that year that time boxers were beginning to become popular among young men who wore boxer shorts with varying colors and prints. Boxer shorts got a fashion boost in 1985 when English model and musician Nick Kamen stripped to white Sunspel boxer shorts in a 1950s style "Launderette" in a Levi's commercial. Since the 1990s, some men also opt for boxer briefs as a compromise between the two.  As of 2006, one American manufacturer reported that woven boxer shorts made up 15-20 per cent of men's underwear sales, but had been declining in popularity compared to boxer briefs since 2003.
caption: Man wearing loose jeans over boxer shorts
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