What independent market data exists on men’s thong sales and demographics since 2020?

1. Market size and growth: underwear macro trends

Multiple industry trackers document a recovering and expanding men’s underwear market after the pandemic, with global market value estimates and multi‑percent CAGRs cited in paid reports—Statista estimated the global men’s underwear market value in 2020 and projected growth to 2027 ^[1], Grand View Research reports a U.S. and global market growing through the 2020s with a projected CAGR and dollar forecasts ^[2], and Future Market Insights cites a roughly 4% CAGR from 2020–2025 for men’s underwear more broadly ^[4]; these figures support that demand for men’s intimates rose overall, but they do not isolate thong sales specifically ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

2. What data exist specifically on thongs as a product slice

There are only a few public, category‑level data points that explicitly include thongs: Persistence Market Research lists “panties and thongs” as holding a substantial share (reported as about 34.6% in 2025) of a larger underwear product grouping and highlights that thongs/panties benefit from minimal visibility under clothing and fashion appeal ^[3]. Beyond that, most references to men’s thongs come from specialist retailers, brand pages, or small surveys rather than independent retail or panel data ^[3].

3. Retailers, surveys and brand claims—signals, not census

Boutique brands and blogs publish surveys and anecdotes that show rising interest: TBô’s own survey (about 824 respondents) reported 84 participants preferring men’s thongs (a brand‑level finding published in 2024) and brand pages like C-IN2 and obviously‑oriented articles frame search and product interest as increasing ^{[5] [6] [7]}. Specialist retailers such as Dead Good Undies report long‑term demand patterns and best‑seller anecdotes dating back before 2020 ^[8]. These sources signal consumer interest and product availability but are company‑sourced, often with small or non‑representative samples and commercial incentives ^{[5] [8] [6]}.

4. Demographics: who buys (and what the data don’t show)

Public sources provide almost no reliable, representative demographic breakdown (age, geography, sexual orientation, income) tied specifically to men’s thong purchasers; the available statistics are limited to survey snapshots or forum self‑reports and therefore cannot stand in for population‑level evidence ^{[5] [9]}. Industry reports describe broader male underwear spend and channels—e‑commerce growth, premium fabric trends, and lifestyle drivers such as fitness and grooming—but they do not provide thong‑specific demographic matrices in the public snippets reviewed ^{[10] [11]}.

5. Sales channels and drivers behind the signals

E‑commerce expansion and fashion/athletic positioning are repeatedly cited as reasons men's thongs have more visibility: market analyses link rising online shopping and niche brands gaining reach to greater availability of specialized intimate apparel ^{[10] [11]}, while brand narratives emphasize practical drivers—no visible lines under fitted clothing, lightness for workouts, and a fashion/confidence angle—as motivating adoption ^[6]. These channel and product narratives explain why thongs appear more often in catalogs and search trends even where hard sales figures are missing ^{[10] [6]}.

6. Data quality, agendas and the research gap

The strongest independent figures are for the broader men’s underwear market (Statista, Grand View, Future Market Insights, Persistence) and must be treated separately from thong‑specific claims ^{[1] [2] [4] [3]}. Company blogs, brand marketing and small online surveys amplify adoption narratives but have commercial incentives and limited sampling frames ^{[5] [6]}. Public, independent retail panel data or POS breakdowns by SKU and buyer demographics for men’s thongs are not present in the reviewed sources; therefore, rigorous statements about percent‑of‑buyers, demographic profiles, or year‑over‑year thong sales totals since 2020 cannot be made from the available public evidence ^{[1] [3] [5]}.

7. Bottom line and what would close the story

The evidence paints a plausible picture: men’s thongs have entered wider retail assortments and niche brand surveys indicate interest, while the overall men’s underwear market has grown since 2020—yet there is no widely available, independent dataset releasing thong sales volumes or representative demographic breakdowns by age, region or channel; obtaining retail POS data, marketplace SKU‑level reporting, or consumer panel research focused on men’s thong purchases would be required to move from indicative signals to verifiable market metrics ^{[2] [3] [5]}.