“If Topman Sold Thongs, I Think Everyone Would Wear One”

The Moment My Flatmate Accidentally Understood the Appeal.

At the time, I still treated men’s thongs like some kind of hidden side project. I had already gone through the first awkward stage of secretly buying one from Primark, convincing myself everyone would somehow know I owned it, wearing it briefly, panicking, then slowly coming back to the idea again later.

By this point, my flatmate already knew I owned one thong. That barrier had been broken earlier through a mixture of curiosity, joking around, and me trying to make the whole thing seem less serious than it felt in my head.

But despite that, thongs still existed in this strange category mentally: something unusual, slightly taboo, and definitely not normal men’s underwear.

Then something unexpected happened.

I Bought Him One Too

At some point during another shopping trip, I decided to buy my flatmate his own thong. Partly as a joke. Partly out of curiosity. And partly because I genuinely wanted to know whether my experience had been unique or whether someone else would react the same way physically.

Because by then I already knew something important: the actual wearing experience was nowhere near as uncomfortable as people imagine.

The mental reaction was the uncomfortable part.

The Immediate Reaction Wasn’t What I Expected

What surprised me most wasn’t that he tried it, it was how quickly his reaction changed once he actually wore it. There wasn’t some dramatic moment of horror. No “How do you wear these?” No “This is unbearable.” Instead, there was this almost confused surprise that it was… comfortable. Genuinely comfortable.

That’s what led to the line that stuck with me ever since:

“If Topman sold thongs, I think everyone would wear one.”

And honestly, that sentence perfectly captured something I had been slowly realising myself.

The Problem Was Never Really the Underwear

That comment stuck because it accidentally exposed the real issue around men’s thongs. The barrier was never the physical experience. It was branding, expectation, and stigma. If a mainstream high-street men’s clothing shop had sold thongs alongside boxers and briefs, most men would probably have viewed them completely differently.

Not as a statement. Not as something “other.” Just another underwear option.

Familiar Branding Changes Everything

The Topman comment was funny, but there was a deeper truth underneath it. People trust familiar categories. If something is sold in the “normal men’s section” by a mainstream brand next to everyday basics, then people subconsciously assume it must be socially acceptable.

But when something feels hidden away, novelty-focused, or oversexualised, you’ll automatically treat it differently before you’ve even touched the fabric.

That changes the entire emotional experience around trying them.

The Physical Reality Was Surprisingly Universal

What struck me most was that his reaction mirrored my own first experience almost exactly. Not emotionally, physically.

Less fabric. Less bunching. Less movement. A surprisingly unobtrusive back strap. The comfort itself wasn’t difficult to understand once you removed the assumptions surrounding it.

It Changed How I Thought About Stigma

Up until then, I still partly viewed my interest in thongs as something highly unusual.

But seeing someone else independently arrive at the same comfort conclusion made it harder to believe the idea that they were inherently bizarre.

It highlighted how much of the stigma came from perception rather than experience.

The Funny Thing About Men’s Thongs

The strange irony is that most people who have never worn one imagine them as extreme, uncomfortable, impractical, or purely sexual. Meanwhile, many people who actually try them end up talking about the support, how comfortable the back actually is, and forgetting they’re even wearing them

It’s a surprisingly practical conversation hidden underneath a very impractical reputation.

I still think about that Topman comment sometimes because it captured the whole subject better than most serious discussions ever could.

Not because it was making some grand statement. But because it recognised something simple. The biggest barrier to men’s thongs usually isn’t the underwear itself, it’s the idea people already formed about them before they ever tried one on.

Years later, when Topman was absorbed by Asos, they did release a line of mens thongs. With my flatmates words still ringing in my ears after all that time, I hit purchase.