A report in The Daily Mail this week has found that the average British Male buys new Men's Pants once every five years. The study concluded that men don't usually buy pants, generally relying on receiving them as gifts from their partners or parents on special occasions. With some men even hanging onto their perished pants for more than a whopping 20 years! Furthermore, more than two in five of the men surveyed admit that their partner buys their underwear. While more than a third still rely on their Mothers to buy their Men's Pants.
The full article, Published in the Daily Mail, argues good underwear can make a man feel great. An extract from the article reads....
They are the most essential item in any man’s wardrobe. The first thing he puts on in the morning and the last thing he removes at night.
He will (hopefully) pull on a new pair each day. Sometimes twice if tonight is that special night.
Most importantly, they offer him comfort and support; not to mention protection, where it is most needed.
With all that in mind, a man’s underpants should really be something of a personal preoccupation in his life. As important to him, say, as the car he drives, the football team he cheers on, or the brand of whisky he slurps before bedtime.
You would think so, wouldn’t you? Actually, the complete opposite appears to be true.
New research shows most chaps, in fact, couldn’t give two hoots about what undies they hang around their waist each day.
To most, their significance rates on life’s Richter scale somewhere in the low single digits, as relevant, say, as whichever toothpaste he squirts on his toothbrush.
The average British male only invests in new underwear once every five years, according to a survey carried out by menswear brand Thomas Clinch.
Some even hang on to their tattered pants for more than 20 years. Family dogs don’t even hang around that long.
I know there are more pressing matters taking place around the globe right now, but isn’t there something vaguely depressing about those statistics? When I first read them, they rekindled unpleasant images I’d been trying to rid myself of for some time.
Several years ago, I was a member of a gym where I was surrounded in the changing rooms by droopy, middle-aged men walking around with awful yellowing things yanked over their hips which I assumed had gone out with rationing. You know the sort I mean. Vast, shapeless nappy-like monstrosities Mr Bean probably favours.
Some of these old boys had worn these unholy looking garments to death, so that the elastic had disintegrated around the waistband, leaving them flopping around their belly buttons. What would possess someone to keep wearing something so sad and raggedy?
What is most surprising about this is it contradicts the so-called ‘metrosexualization’ of men; which has supposedly taken place over the past decade. We’re constantly being told how much more care we are taking in our appearance.
Menswear sales are booming. Nourishing skin products and whiffy unguents are flying off the chemist’s shelves.
Ever more intimate levels of grooming are on the rise. Some boys now regard a trip to the tanning shop, or waxing clinic, as much a part of their monthly routine as visiting the hairdresser.
Why then do their undergarments remain so neglected? A pair of Calvin Klein classic black boxer briefs will only set you back £20!
What do you think? Are men really pants are buying men's pants?