Swim briefs

In Continental Europe and South America, briefs are relatively common among male casual swimmers and beach goers.

[4][5] In some swimming pools in France, men are only permitted to wear form-fitting suits and not shorts, purportedly for reasons relating to hygiene.

[6] Reasons that swim briefs are chosen for recreation include style, ease of movement in the water, sunshine exposure, quick drying time, and the ability to be worn under pants or shorts.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott was a fitness fanatic noted for wearing speedos or "budgie smugglers".

These include the growing popularity of the jammer style and the development of full body suits for competitive swimming.

On the fashion end, several designer companies including Nautica, Olaf Benz, Calvin Klein and aussieBum have begun lines of brief style suits in the United States.

Most designer brands of male swimwear in Europe, Asia and Australia produce lines of much briefer style suits, including the increasingly popular Brazilian square cut trunks (known as sunga(s) in Portuguese).