Men's Cotton Briefs, Pack of 3

Details

Three plain briefs knitted in 95 percent combed cotton with 5 percent elastane at a measured 180 GSM, mill-knitted in Tiruppur. Innerwear is where a blend hides best, because the price point is low, the garment is small and nobody inspects it. A brief sold as a cotton brief is very often 60 percent polyester, and polyester against skin for sixteen hours a day is the difference between a garment that breathes and one that does not. So the first thing this listing does is give the number, tested, instead of rounding it to a marketable 100. And the five percent is a deliberate choice rather than a corner cut. A brief knitted in cotton alone bags out at the leg opening inside a month and never comes back, because cotton has almost no recovery. Anyone selling a 100 percent cotton brief is selling a garment that will not hold its shape, or has put elastane in and not said so. The honest version is the smallest amount that works, printed on the label. The other two cheats are the waistband and the dye. Exposed rubber elastic saves a rupee and perishes into a hard curl within a year, and a stiff jacquard band folds over on itself the first time you sit down. Azo dyes matter more here than anywhere else on this shelf, for the obvious reason.

• 95 percent combed cotton and 5 percent elastane, confirmed by FTIR, printed rather than described as cotton rich
• 180 GSM single jersey, measured on the finished cloth
• Covered waistband: the elastic is fully enclosed in the same cotton jersey and tacked at four points, so it cannot spin inside the casing or roll over
• Combed rather than carded, so it does not pill where it rubs
• Flatlock seams throughout, so there is no overlock ridge under a trouser
• A double-layer front panel, so a light colour is not see-through
• A single-layer combed cotton gusset, not a synthetic mesh
• Azo-free dye below the 30 ppm limit for restricted aromatic amines, tested per lot
• Free formaldehyde below 75 ppm, the limit for a garment in direct skin contact
• The 5 percent elastane means these cannot go into a cotton recycling stream, and it means heat is the enemy: a tumble dryer takes a year off the waistband
• One white, one grey melange and one navy in every pack, because a three-pack carries no colour choice and this is the set that covers a week