A solid men’s underwear guide for 2026 needs to cover more than just brand names: it needs to tell you what actually holds up through a long day, a gym session, and repeated machine washes. After cycling through new entries and revisiting long-standing favourites, the GQ Recommends team has landed on a ranked list spanning every cut, fabric, and price point worth considering.
The Full Men’s Underwear Guide 2026 Rankings
The list breaks down like this. For everyday boxer briefs, the Calvin Klein Cotton Stretch Briefs (5-pack) hold the top spot, currently available at $46 down from $72. For value, Skims Cotton Boxer Briefs come in at $18, and for the budget-conscious, Uniqlo AIRism Boxer Briefs at $15 remain hard to beat. The upgrade pick is CDLP Boxer Briefs at $45, with Lululemon’s Always In Motion Boxer Brief at $34 covering the athletic category.
Briefs have their own tier. Calvin Klein’s Icon Cotton Stretch Hip Brief (3-pack) leads at $53, with the Skims Cotton Brief (3-pack) at $44 as the budget option. For those willing to spend more, Hanro Superior Cotton Briefs at $65 take the upgrade slot. Boxer shorts split into Sunspel Classic Boxer Shorts ($65 overall best), Uniqlo Woven Trunks ($8 budget), Derek Rose Classic Fit Boxer Shorts ($100 upgrade), and the Mack Weldon AirKnitx Boxer ($38) for comfort.
Why CDLP Earns the Upgrade Recommendation
Among the picks that deserve a closer look is CDLP, a Stockholm-based design house founded in 2016 by Christian Larson and Andreas Palm, according to the CDLP Official Website. The brand positions fit and fabric above everything else, and prices accordingly. Where plenty of competitors lean on oversized logos or loud colourways, CDLP keeps its palette restrained and its branding minimal.
The boxer briefs are built from 95% Tencel lyocell, 5% elastane, a silk-like jersey that CDLP CEO Andreas Palm describes as offering ‘luxurious softness, breathability, and moisture-wicking properties, keeping you cool and fresh throughout the day.’ One detail that separates CDLP from mass-market alternatives: according to the CDLP product page, the boxer briefs are produced in small batches in Portugal. That production approach is reflected in the quality of the finish. The fabric does run a little snug, so sizing up is worth considering.
For those who haven’t come across CDLP before, it arrived relatively recently in the wider men’s underwear conversation, but it has moved quickly up the rankings. The Stockholm roots and the Portugal production give it a European craft-goods sensibility that comes through in how the briefs wear over time.
What Separates the Best from the Adequate
The testing panel assessed each pair on comfort, breathability, fit, quality, support, value, and overall style. A few threads run through the top picks regardless of price point. Fabric choice matters more than most buyers realise. Cotton remains the baseline, but blends that incorporate modal or elastane tend to offer better shape retention and moisture control, particularly on active days or in warmer conditions. Plant-based fibres such as modal and Tencel resist odour more effectively than straight cotton and carry a noticeably premium hand feel.
Fit is where cheaper options most often fall down. The waistband needs to stay put without rolling; leg openings that grip too hard will ride up, while those cut too loose will bunch under trousers. Flat seams make a practical difference on longer wearing days. The testers repeatedly flagged pairs that moved with the body rather than fighting it as the ones worth coming back to.
Calvin Klein’s boxer briefs, which GQ notes were introduced in the early ’80s and helped establish the designer underwear category, still hold up against newer competition on everyday comfort and price. The 95% cotton, 5% spandex blend offers breathability that some newer synthetic entries can’t match. Skims, which launched its men’s underwear line in 2023, has closed the gap quickly; the cotton-modal-elastane blend (43% each of cotton and modal, 14% elastane) scores high on softness and fit across a wide size range from XS to 5X.
At the top of the market, Hanro’s Superior Cotton Briefs use mercerised Egyptian long-staple cotton that the testers describe as silken in feel without sacrificing breathability. Sunspel’s Classic Boxer Shorts bring 100% long-staple cotton and a back panel that’s actually shaped and cut, which eliminates the bunching that undermines lesser boxer shorts. Derek Rose’s version delivers a similar quality of 100% cotton with a sheen that impressed even the testers most sceptical of boxer shorts as a format.
For gym use specifically, the Lululemon Always In Motion Boxer Brief runs on the brand’s Luxtreme fabric (76% nylon, 24% elastane), which wicks sweat, allows airflow, and stays put during heavy training. The Uniqlo AIRism, at $15, covers the budget athletic ground with an 89% polyester, 11% spandex construction that tested well for moisture management even if it doesn’t lead in any single category.
For general buying guidance: the testers recommend owning 15 to 20 pairs as a baseline, rising to 25 or 30 for those training regularly, with enough quality pairs in the rotation to always have clean options even at the far end of a laundry cycle. Signs it’s time to replace a pair include stretched elastic, fabric holes, and staining, any of which, if you’d rather not have someone else see it, is reason enough to move on.
