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15 Best Underwear For Men: Every Pair Tested For 6 Months

For comfort, style and durability that you just can't miss.

15 Best Underwear For Men: Every Pair Tested For 6 Months

Image: Romer Macapuno

When I started out as a journalist, I didn’t think this would be my beat. Six months into my men’s underwear experiment, I couldn’t be happier about this unexpected detour in my fledgling career…


What I thought would be a pretty straightforward process — figuring out the most-loved Aussie underwear brands, loading up a cart, getting them delivered, and taking them for a spin — quickly turned into a far more daunting task than I’d anticipated. Why? Because there’s a lot more to men’s underwear than meets the eye…

It’s not just a case of figuring out your size and favourite colour. Fit, support, fabrics, comfort levels, design and — even more importantly — sustainability credentials all come into play. That’s before you even get started on the purchasing experience, packaging, delivery, and customer service. Sometimes, none of these things even matter and a pair will simply grab you the grounds of having a good vibe.

And yet, never easily deterred, I soldiered on, trying out 15 different pairs for over 6 months each in a quest to deliver DMARGE’s readers with an honest and unabashed analysis of the best underwear available in the antipodean world. I want you all to feel well-supported and well-informed in equal measure.

Whether or not the extensive time and effort invested in this mission will be up to you dear reader, not me. All I know is that I’ve tried my very best to distil six months of effort into a few pithy and to-the-point lines so that you can make an educated decision. Read on and see what you think.

Short for time? Here are the Take-Aways

Best Overall:Tradie – No Chafe Boxer
Best For Exercise:Lululemon – Built To Move Boxer
Best Value:Uniqlo – AIRism Boxer
Best For Relaxing:Uniqlo – Supima Boxer
Cheekiest: Knobby – Bamboo Staples Boxer
Best For Sustainability:Stonemen – Essential Boxer Brief
Best Pouch:Sparx – Classic Bamboo Boxer
Best Bamboo Boxers:Boody – Everyday Boxer

Why Trust Us?

As I said above, there’s a whole rat of factors to consider when choosing the best men’s undies, factors I didn’t even realise existed until after this experiment began. That’s why I initially set out to try and test each pair for a whopping 24 hours so that I could get acquainted and give you a review of how it performed in a range of different activities.

However, it soon became clear that 24 hours wasn’t going to cut the mustard. That’s why I’ve returned with an update after six months of extensive use which you can see below — was divided into three main states of activity, which included resting, light movement, and intense exercise.

When resting, I was primarily looking for comfort and support. Light movement included anything beyond the bounds of my own home but excluding the walls of the gym; office work, committing, going to the supermarket, and such.

Finally, intense exercise was all about hitting the gym or heading for a run, which are my two main forms of exercise. This puts a high stress on the underwear’s ability to provide comfort and support while also giving its moisture-wicking capabilities a good t too.

Here they are, just some of the finest undies in Australia we personally tested. Image: Finlay Mead/DMARGE

TLDR: Each pair of underwear was evaluated for a range of important criteria including but not necessarily limited to quality of fabric, fit, level of support provided, breathability, moisture-wicking capabilities, eco-friendly and organic cotton credentials, as well as overall comfort. Factors such as the waistband design, placement of seams, and level of elasticity were also considered.

The 6-Month Update

After 6 months of non-stop usage, I thought it would be worth updating this guide with two things:

  • First, I’ve updated the list below with a couple of new pairs that I’ve tried out (including the iconic Calvin Klein) and re-jigged the running order to reflect my personal rankings.
  • Second, I wanted to share which underwear brands and styles are still in regular rotation, how they are holding up, and which pairs have, sadly, been cast into the rubbish bin for not meeting the long-term benchmark…

9 tried and tested pairs remain after 6 months in rotation while the following pairs have all been gotten rid of…

  • Mitchdowd – Basic Hipster Trunk
  • Bonds – Guyfront Trunk
  • Tradie – Man Front Trunk
  • Sparx – Classic Bamboo Boxer
  • Bonds – Total Package Trunk
  • Debriefs – Short Leg Trunk