By: Bimol Bee
Submitted: 2012-01-28 05:01:59 | Word Count: 638
Boxer shorts are often called loose boxers or just boxers and are a type of underwear for men. The name of boxer shorts entered the English language in 1944 and was mainly used to denote all-around-elastic shorts which were worn by pugilists. The latter needed to make any leg movements and arm movements 100% free as these were barechested fighters.
In 1925, Jacob Golomb who was the founder of Everlast, created the first elastic-waist trunks replacing the leather-belted trunks. These pieces of clothing were worn by boxers. Nowadays, these trunks are called "boxer trunks", and at that period of time these articles quickly became popular but unfortunately were eclipsed by the popular Jockey-style briefs which entered the market in the late 1930s. In about 1947, boxer shorts became popular again and were available in two styles - briefs and boxer shorts.
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In 1984 boxer shorts gained the greatest popularity after Nick Kamen, English model and musician, showed his blue boxers in a 1950s style "Launderette" in a Levi's commercial. In the 1990s many men chose boxer briefs as the best underwear.
Today, most of men prefer wearing boxer shorts for a number of reasons. First of all, due to the great variety of styles and designs of boxers. In comparison with traditional briefs, boxers offer more freedom of movements. However, this freedom greatly depends on the type of fabric from which the boxer shorts are made as well as on the print design.
The greater number of boxer shorts has a fly in their front part. The producers of boxer shorts have several methods of closing the fly: with the help of metal snaps or a few buttons. Nevertheless, some boxer shorts available in the market don't have any fastening mechanism for closing up the fly. The fabric is just cut and the shorts can overlap and cover the opening. This design is called an open fly design.
The fabrics from which boxer shorts are made are seldom stretchy. There's usually loosely-fitting fabric in the rear of the shorts. It's designed to simplify the wearer's movements, particularly bending forward. The most popular sewing design of boxer shorts involves a panel seat with two seams located on the outer edges of the back seating area and making up a center rear panel. The greater number of commercial boxer shorts is produced with the usage of this design.
Somewhat less popular forms of boxer shorts are "yoke front" boxers and "gripper" boxers. The latter ones have an elastic waistband just like other traditional boxers but usually offer three snaps on the fly and the waistband to open up completely. Yoke front boxers are very much like gripper boxers, as the wide waistband yoke can be opened up very easily. As a rule, the yoke has three snaps to close it as the fly has no closure mechanism.
You can find two types of yoke boxers. The first type has a short piece of elastic on all sides of the waistband that snugs up the yoke to fit the waist. The second type is known as "tie-sides" due to narrow cloth tapes on every side of the waist yoke. These can be strings tightened and knotted by the man to create the most suitable size. This type of boxers was very popular during World War II, when all the rubber was used for military purposes.
Nowadays, boxer shorts can be of almost any color you may think of – white, pastels, dark colors. there's also a wide choice of patterns and prints on these boxers. The most traditional patterns are "geometrics" which are represented by small repeating geometric designs, vertical stripes and plaids. Besides, you'll meet numerous "novelty" boxer short patterns. In addition, boxer shorts can be manufactured from different fabrics such as cotton, jersey knits, cotton/polyester blends, and certainly silk.
