[sebbie]

My First Compression Shorts

Compression shorts as worn by athletes most often as undergarments when engaging in a sport is something that has occurred relatively recently, at least compared to the dates when the Bike jock strap was introduced in the mid 1800s and the Swim brief only starting to become popular in the 1950s. The idea of wearing compression shorts as an undergarment, say, under basketball shorts, probably first became popular with only a few professional athletes in the late 1980s, but by the early 1990s that same idea of using a compression short, perhaps instead of wearing a strap, spread to colleges and then high schools.

I got my first pair of compression shorts about 1990, I think. Having had a long fascination with wearing anything that fit snug in the groin area, this just represented another option for me to run my experiments. Other guys probably were curious as well. Exactly how do these fit and feel?

So, around 1990, you typically did not go searching for compression shorts in the clothing section of a department store. Rather, you found your way to the sporting goods section of the store. The big discount chains (Walmart, Kmart) always had a section in the sporting goods department that contained a short wall of “safety” items a guy might need when engaging in a sport. Knee protectors, mouthguards, straps both with and without cups, but all wearable safety-related sports-related gear. It was common for drugstores to sell similar gear, straps etc. along side knee and elbow wraps and treat the section as medical-related gear designed to reduce or eliminate a variety of injuries.

The new item around 1990 was bubble packages containing compression shorts for guys, right next to the athletic supporters. So, I wandered into Walmart about this time with the idea of checking out the straps that were available, and along side of the straps were the new compression shorts, available in white or black. I ended up buying one of each, both size SM, of course. They were about $12 each.

The brand name was Bollinger, and Bollinger also sold other sports gear designed to help minimize injury in the same section of the store. The compression shorts were just a new item.

From the moment I put them on, I loved my Bollingers. I was so fond of them that I sometimes slept in them through the night. I loved the fit and feel

I still have both pairs though at the moment I am not certain where the white pair is. I am wearing the black pair as I write this. How does the pair from 1990 differ from compression shorts from more recently? That is an interesting question. The Bollingers have moderately short legs, maybe a 7-inch inseam. No effort was made to sew in a visible pouch, they just fit flat in front.

The tag that is still on them says 85% nylon and 15% Spandex. But the material is thicker and much heavier duty than the material in my more recent purchases. This heavy-duty material provides more compression than the current generation of shorts I have been buying.

Pulling them on today I fully understand why I was so turned on about these when I got them. They really feel great. My body is in a special place.

Interestingly, the spandex has not deteriorated at all. They still fit every bit as snug as they did the first time I wore them. The seams have held up well. However, the elastic waistband did come loose from the short in a number of places. I stitched them back together on my sewing machine.

I really like the vintage look and feel to the material. I’m constantly reminded of them as the day goes on. The question, of course, is whether this should be a guy’s sole undergarment or whether a guy should wear another layer underneath. These would seem to work well over an old-school strap, as one possibility. I could have gone with an undersized pair of tighty whiteys, but today I chose a little cotton thong instead. I will be doing my daily rowing and biking workout wearing this combination today.

There are lots and lots of compression shorts on the big online retailer sites. All of these appear to be made of a very stretchy but much lighter-weight material than my Bollingers. I have not seen compression shorts at the big discount houses in some time regardless of fabric weight. Brands like Nike® and Undergear® appear at the sporting goods stores.