Boxer shorts (also known as loose boxers or as simply boxers) are a type of underwear worn by men. The term has been used in English since 1944 for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by pugilists, for whom unhindered leg movement ('footwork') is almost as important as the completely free arm movement of the barechested fighters.

Reasons for a preference for boxers can be attributed to their variety of styles and design as well as the way boxers look on the wearer. Unlike traditional briefs, boxers allow for more freedom in the selection of a fabric type and print design.

History and design

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.Fact: date=February 2007 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. 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.

Two less common forms of boxer shorts are "gripper" boxers and "yoke front" boxers. Gripper boxers have an elastic waistband like regular boxers but have snaps, usually 3, on the fly and on the waistband so that they open up completely. Yoke front boxers are similar to gripper boxers in that the wide waistband yoke can be opened up completely, and the yoke usually has three snaps to close it while the fly itself, below, has no closure mechanism. There are two types of yoke boxers: one in which there is a short piece of elastic on each side of the waistband which snugs up the yoke to fit the waist; and "tie-sides" which have narrow cloth tapes on each side of the waist yoke, like strings, which are tightened and knotted by the wearer to make an exact fit. This style of underwear was very common during World War II, when the rubber needed for elastic waistbands had to be used for military purposes.