Boxer Short

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.[http://bestuff.com/citation needed] The two styles, briefs and boxer shorts, had varying ratios of sales for the following forty years, with strong regional and generational preferences.

In more recent decades, boxer shorts got a fashion boost in 1984 when English model and musician Nick Kamen stripped to blue boxers in a 1950s style "Launderette" in a Levi's commercial.1 Although briefs today outsell boxer shorts, that trend is waning with boxer shorts sales a significantly higher portion of sales for men under 40. Since the 1990s, some men also opt for boxer briefs as a compromise between the two.

Most boxer shorts have a fly in front. Boxer shorts manufacturers have a couple of methods of closing the fly: metal snaps or a button or two. However, many boxer shorts on the market do not need a fastening mechanism to close up the fly as the fabric is cut and the shorts are designed to sufficiently overlap and fully cover the opening. This is commonly known as an open fly design.

Since boxer shorts fabric is rarely stretchy, a "balloon seat", a generous panel of loosely-fitting fabric in the center rear of the shorts, is designed to accommodate the wearer's various movements, especially bending forward. The most common sewing design of boxer shorts are made with a panel seat that has two seams running on the outer edges of the back seating area, creating a center rear panel. Most mass produced commercial boxer shorts are made using this design.