Proper Care and Feeding of Your Underwear

How many times do most guys wear a pair of jeans before washing them? For most of us, several. In fact, experts say jeans should be washed as rarely as possible to preserve the fabric and fit. But underwear is a different matter. Just a filthy minority of us would don a pair of skivvies more than once before throwing them in the hamper.

Most of our clothes are spared the sheer number of washing machine beatings our poor underwear is subjected to. And for those of us with expensive taste in underwear, it's especially important that these delicate fabrics are treated with care if we expect them to last.

"Due to the high stitch count binding together the woven cotton panels and quality of cotton fabric itself our underwear can easily last for a couple of years before showing age," said Phil Elam, co-owner and operator of Justus Boyz Apparel.

Clothes dryers are fast and convenient but their heat is the enemy of many materials, including elastic. If you have the time to dry your underwear on a drying rack, you may get more life out of your investment. One drawback to line- and flat-drying is that clothing, when dry, isn't as soft as it is coming out of a dryer (dryer sheets with built-in fabric softener work well, as we all know).

Elam recommends washing classic white cotton underwear in hot water with bleach and colors such as their camo/black, desert camo and royal blue in cold water with no bleach.

"Sticking your cotton underwear in a hot dryer does it no favors at all," said James Milton, owner of London-based Dirty Fukker Underwear.

While care for cotton underwear is time-tested, new underwear fabrics like soy, bamboo and microfiber may require special handling.

"We recommend always hand wash and line dry for longevity," said Andrew Christian's Jeff White.

If hand-washing isn't practical, White recommends using a washing net or lingerie bag for washing bamboo underwear. These bags protect fabrics from snags and friction in the washer. These mesh bags allow water in but allow for a more gentle washing action, even in a normal wash cycle. White also recommends keeping microfiber garments out of high dryer heat.

2(x)ist recommends washing their soy-based underwear in a cold washing machine and tumble drying on low heat.

High-quality underwear from premium labels like Justus Boyz, Dirty Fukker, Andrew Christian and 2(x)ist should hold up a good, long time if one follows the manufacturer's recommendations for washing and drying. Get to know what the various laundry symbols mean, invest in a drying rack for your more delicate delicates and, most importantly, take care of your underwear because it takes care of you.

Comments

[Fabio]

I am amazed with the attention you give to underwear. But in fact, those are questions that we all have, but sometimes don't have someone to ask.

Well done! Very nice information! I hope I'll have my undies lasting longer now... Perhaps also my jeans!
Cheers!

[Leo]

Calvin Klein's sales always adivice the customer hand washing, but I never do that.
The frabric, even cotton worn out quickly after tumble dry.

[Aaron]

Well done. I take mine a step further and rinse twice more to get rid of the residual detergent and oxygen bleach salts in cool water and vinegar. Yes vinegar has been used as a fabric softener for uhm centuries because it dissolves the calcium and magnesium salts found in ordinary tap water that would otherwise lodge in the fibers and give them that stiff feel of line or rack drying. Also the mild acid stops dyes from bleeding, especially with silk. A half a cup in the final rinse or 2 TBL per gallon of water. Plus microfibers should not have fabric softener added to them as it slowly mucks up the nylon, modal or rayon fibers that many of these newer undies are made from. A cool dryer temp for delicate fabric works fine if space is not available to line or rack dry.