Underwear Preferences Survey 2024: Men & Women

We ran a market research survey to determine where men and women stand when it comes to their underwear preferences in 2024.

The setup was basic.

We asked men and women through anonymous survey in 4 developed market countries:

  • US
  • Canada
  • UK
  • Australia

We asked them what their underwear preference was, keeping options simple.

For example, we didn’t differentiate between thongs and g-strings for women, or briefs, bikinis, hipsters, boyshorts, and other full-back panties styles. Instead, they were kept to two basic categories.

For guys, they had three options to choose from:

  • Briefs
  • Boxer briefs
  • Boxers

For women, they had two options:

  • Briefs
  • Thongs

We also asked their preferences when it came to underwear on the opposite gender.

Women could choose between briefs, boxer briefs, and boxers. 

Men could choose between briefs / bikini and thongs. 

Here were the results.

Men Underwear Preferences

Let’s first look at the men’s results.

1) Men’s age

Two-thirds of participants were between the ages of 25 and 49.

13.5% were 18-24 while about 19% were 50-64. No participants happened to be 65+.

2) Which type of underwear do you prefer to wear the majority of the time?

What underwear do men prefer to wear the majority of the time?

It turns out that the boxers vs. briefs dichotomy is still pretty well in play.

Despite the increasing popularity of the hybrid boxer briefs, more than 75 percent of respondents reported a preference for the boxers or briefs style.

Briefs came in at 35.1 percent of participants.

Boxers came in at 40.5 percent.

Boxer briefs had 24.3 percent.

men Which type of underwear do you prefer to wear the majority of the time?

Boxers got the most respondents, but briefs came close.

While there’s a perception that briefs may be somewhat out of style, that doesn’t appear to be so true.

In fact, with more men’s clothing going toward tailored styles, you might expect briefs to be picking up in popularity.

Though boxers won with about 40 percent of the vote, that also means that 60 percent of men favor form-fitting underwear styles.

3) Which type of underwear do you prefer the opposite gender to wear?

Do men really prefer to see women in thongs?

Not really.

About 60 percent of men voted for briefs / bikinis, with 40 about percent going with the more minimal thong.

Which type of underwear do you prefer the opposite sex to wear? men


Women Underwear Preferences

Let’s take a look at the women’s results.

1) Women’s age

A little more than half of all particpants were 35-49.

27.6 percent were 18-34.

2) Which type of underwear do you prefer to wear the majority of the time?

72.4 percent of women in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia prefer briefs.

27.6 percent of women prefer thongs.

women Which type of underwear do you prefer to wear the majority of the time?

There’s more of a skew toward briefs as women get older, though more than 60 percent of women aged 18-34 also prefer briefs.

So, not surprisingly, women’s preference for wearing briefs was 12-13 percent higher than men’s preference for women in briefs. But it’s not far off either.

3) Which type of underwear do you prefer the opposite gender to wear?

It’s commonly believed that women prefer men in boxers or boxer briefs.

But that turned out to not be true. Women actually like the skimpier style brief.

Briefs tied with boxer briefs for first place at about 38 percent of the vote each.

Boxers came in at 24 percent.

 Which type of underwear do you prefer the opposite sex to wear? women

That 37.9 percent preference for briefs is more than the actual percentage of men who reported a preference of wearing briefs (35.1 percent).

The preference of women preferring a form-fitting style on men (76 percent) outweighs the number of men who voted for preferring that option (60 percent).

Women’s preference for the boxer brief is 13 percent higher than the men’s preference. This is on par with women’s personal preference for wearing briefs relative to men’s preference for women wearing briefs.

Women’s preference for boxers was much lower than men’s actual preference at 24 percent versus 40 percent.

Underwear Preferences Survey


Conclusion

What can we conclude from this study?

Men have a mild preference for boxers (40.5%) over briefs (35.1%), outdoing boxer briefs (24.3%).

Briefs are the preference of 72.4% percent of women, easily beating out thongs at 27.6%.

Briefs are the most popular overall style of underwear, which should make sense because it’s basically the only mainstream overlap. Taking both genders together, briefs are worn by 54% of the population.

Men don’t prefer thongs on women overall.

60% of men prefer briefs or bikini-style underwear on women, while 38% of women prefer briefs on men.

Thongs were the preference of 28% of women while 40% of men preferred women to wear thongs.

Boxers are the most popular choice among men at 40%, but the least popular preference that women want men to wear at just 24%.

Overall, both genders reported a stronger preference for larger, more comfort-related underwear styles (briefs for women, boxers for men) relative to the opposite gender’s preference for them.


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