Thousands of years ago, cavemen invented the wheel. A couple centuries back, some smart-asses invented the printing press. In 2015, three young Dutch students added their own invention to the list which most likely put a halt to the evolution of our species: Pockies – the only boxer shorts with Pockets.
How has mankind been able to live without it, for all these years? Where did Christopher Columbus hide his passport while setting sail for the new world? Where would Tom Hanks have put his wife’s picture during WWll? Where did Biggie keep his piece when frisked by the po-po? No one knows. Luckily, those days are over.
Origin
It all started in the student house of Michiel Dicker (30), Rob ten Hoove (29) and Karel Bosman (32). Dicker was on the couch, in his ‘regular’ underwear and with no place to put his phone. “Wouldn’t it be nice if these boxer shorts had pockets,” he thought out loud. Bosman jumped up exclaiming, “Dude, this is it! Let’s do this!” And so an adventure began.
The three boys put all their savings together and ordered the first batch of Pockies; 2,000 pieces. “Those were exciting times. We were either going to sell, or be stuck with a truckload of underwear for the rest of our lives,” Bosman says. Friends were asked to model, the website was built by themselves with little experience, and their first orders were packed using duct tape.
Sold out
The fear of having a lifetime supply of boxer shorts proved to be unfounded. Within three weeks, the first batch sold out entirely. “We couldn’t believe it. We had to run from our lectures, or skip them altogether, to prepare orders,” a laughing Bosman says. These days, the distribution of Pockies is done solely by professionals, in three different locations.
Promise to Mother Earth
It’s good to see the importance of sustainability being recognised at Pockies. A promise to treat Mother Earth a little better was made when teaming up with GOTS and OEKO-TEX, certifiers of organically grown cotton. Recycling also comes into the picture when products don’t rely on cotton, i.e. the swim-wear collection. Along with their friends at Waste 2 Wear, Pockies ensures that a pair of swim shorts is made out of 10 recycled plastic bottles that would have otherwise strangled a baby turtle out in the ocean.
Private part concealing fit
Besides the pockets, besides the material, there was one other very important aspect in creating the perfect boxer short: the fit. “We hated the fact that other boxer shorts would provide a front-row view of our crown jewels when we sat down,” says Bosman. “That’s why we created our boxer shorts with fitted legs. This way it won’t crawl up and you don’t have to present your friends and family with your precious parts.”
Crossing the border during Covid
Since the three entrepreneurs decided to take the big leap from Amsterdam to the U.K. two years ago, they’ve sold over 75,000 pairs of Pockies to date. Englishmen seem to love the trouserless lifestyle and Covid really made that a thing. We were even told by our customers that most of their dreaded Zoom meetings and video conferences were done with their nicest shirt on, their trousers off, and nothing but a pair of Pockies underneath.
