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Smartwool has replaced its Merino Sport Seamless Bikini, our former runner-up pick, with the Intraknit Bikini. We plan to test it soon—for more details, see the What to look forward to section. Swimsuit Pilling Fabric
Whether you’re traveling for business, pleasure, or outdoor adventures, you want undies that will work with you, not against you. That means quick-drying, moisture-wicking skivvies that you can wash quickly in a sink if need be.
Over the past six years, we’ve tested 37 pairs of men’s and women’s underwear while road-tripping, hostel-hopping, and backpacking in backcountry and urban environments.
Throughout these trips, the men’s ExOfficio Give-N-Go 2.0 Sport Mesh 6″ Boxer Brief and the Patagonia Women’s Active Hipster have both proved to be the best underwear for most travelers and active people in general.
Durable, quick-drying, and relatively inexpensive, this soft-fabric version of ExOfficio’s time-tested Give-N-Go undies will serve you well for years.
Well-tailored and comfortable, these extra-soft, adjustment-free boxer briefs are a treat at a premium price.
These light, stylish, quick-drying hipsters stay in place, whether you’re walking, flying, or hanging upside down.
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Comfortable, compact, and fast-drying, these are a great value. But they don’t fit quite as nicely and aren’t as supportive in the crotch as the ExOfficio briefs.
Made of similar fabric as the Airism Boxer Brief, with a no-ride cut, these undies are the least expensive of any we tested and among the best performing.
Durable, quick-drying, and relatively inexpensive, this soft-fabric version of ExOfficio’s time-tested Give-N-Go undies will serve you well for years.
The ExOfficio Give-N-Go 2.0 Sport Mesh 6″ Boxer Brief is the best men’s underwear for travel because it combines fit, comfort, odor-proofing, and value better than anything else we’ve tested.
The Sport Mesh fabric excels at breathing and wicking and has better odor-resistance than other fabrics. It feels soft on the inside and smooth on the outside, so it slides against your pants instead of creating friction, reducing potential for chafing.
These briefs also feature a sculpted crotch area that gives wearers some much-appreciated support without feeling stifling. These dry quickly, pack compactly, and weigh less than almost all the other boxer briefs we tried—basically, these briefs are everything you’d want from travel underwear.
Well-tailored and comfortable, these extra-soft, adjustment-free boxer briefs are a treat at a premium price.
If you’re willing to pay more for better fit and fabric, the Tommy John Air Mesh Boxer Brief 8” feels like a fine-tailored garment with the price to match. Offering the best front pouch of any boxer brief we tested, these soft undies also stay in place better than the competition, for a truly wedgie-free, riding-free, rubbing-free experience. They’re a bit long in the legs—not ideal for pairing with short shorts—but other than that, we have no complaints if you can afford the hefty price. (Tommy John does make a version with shorter legs.)
These light, stylish, quick-drying hipsters stay in place, whether you’re walking, flying, or hanging upside down.
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The Patagonia Women’s Active Hipster doesn’t appear special upon first glance. Only after trying everything else and living through their failures to stay put did we remember what “special” really means in a pair of underwear—feeling as if you’re wearing nothing at all. The Patagonias have the best fit, comfort, and style out of all the panties we tested. The nylon material is fast-wicking and better than most synthetics for odor-proofing, making this pair well suited to athletic activities.
The Active Hipster is lightweight and packable, and it is the fastest-drying underwear we tested—perfect for minimalist travelers who go weeks at a time with just one or two pairs. But these same characteristics make these panties great for any traveler looking for something comfortable and packable, regardless of where you’re going or what you’re doing.
Comfortable, compact, and fast-drying, these are a great value. But they don’t fit quite as nicely and aren’t as supportive in the crotch as the ExOfficio briefs.
Made of similar fabric as the Airism Boxer Brief, with a no-ride cut, these undies are the least expensive of any we tested and among the best performing.
If you want great performance at an even more budget-friendly price, Uniqlo’s Airism line is a great choice. The fit isn’t as nice as you’d get with our other picks: The legs on the Boxer Brief are a bit too short, and the Seamless HipHugger had issues with sagging at times. Also, the odor resistance isn’t as effective or durable compared with pricier boxers and panties. But given the line’s more-than-reasonable price, you’re still getting great underwear that wicks, breathes, supports, and dries as well as the best travel underwear available.
Liz Thomas is a former Appalachian Trail speed-record holder who has hiked over 15,000 miles in performance underwear. As an ultralight backpacker, she’ll use the same two pair of undies for six months, washing and drying yesterday’s pair for tomorrow’s use. She’s taken travel undies hostel-hopping on five continents, too.
For feedback on the challenges undies may face internationally, we pinned down global nomad and author of The Hidden Europe Francis Tapon during the Sudanese portion of his five-year walk through all 54 African countries. To get a better grasp on design features, fabrics, and the changing men’s underwear market, we checked in with Michael Kleinmann, aka The Underwear Expert, editor-in-chief of The Underwear Blog and founder of the Underwear of the Month Club.
Anyone who wants to travel light or needs more room in their luggage for the fun stuff will appreciate the convenience of ditching cotton underpants. The material used in travel and performance underwear (the two categories overlap considerably) is thinner and takes up less space in your bag. It also reduces chafing and wicks away moisture—ensuring that discomfort from your undies doesn’t hold you back from your adventures—and dries about twice as quickly as the cotton used in typical underwear.
With the convenience of quick-drying, hand-washable underwear, you’ll no longer be at the mercy of the laundromat hours or expensive hotel laundry service. If you can commit to handwashing nightly before bed, you can travel indefinitely with just two pairs of travel undies.
The only major downside is that travel underwear tends to be more expensive per pair than typical cotton undies. For example, Uniqlo makes both cotton and synthetic boxer briefs, and the cotton version is about half as expensive. And though synthetic materials have a slick, silky feel that many people love in underwear, they tend to feel less luxurious than the softer modal-blend skivvies popularized by companies like MeUndies. But these softer materials dry too slowly—about as slowly as cotton in most cases—and aren’t as effective at wicking moisture.
The panties and boxer briefs that we decided to test met these standards for travel underwear:
We ran each pair run through a vigorous set of tests at home, including washing, drying, and sniff tests. Our ultimate goal was to determine how each pair ranked according to:
We started by trying everything on. Anything that wasn’t comfortable to sit at a desk and work in failed the initial test and was cut from the list. We then wore the top performers for two days in a row, before conducting a sniff test. Testers also noted whether the pair felt grimy or otherwise gross. If so, we asked the tester to run the underwear through another two-day trial. To test durability, in addition to usual washing after wear, we washed each pair of underwear three times straight with a few pairs of jeans (to simulate a rough wash).
Because drying time is an essential component of travel underwear, after running all the underwear through the spin cycle, we line-dried it. We touched each pair every 20 minutes to determine whether it was dry and order of drying time.
We then moved onto real-world testing. The trips included backpacking 215 miles throughout the city of Portland, Oregon; six weeks backpacking the Canadian Rockies, walking from the lowest point in the Continental US to the highest; and road-tripping to the national parks of the West. And of course, wearing them on all the flights to our destinations.
Afterward, we checked for signs of wear. As we continued to test the finalists, we repeatedly checked for durability problems.
Durable, quick-drying, and relatively inexpensive, this soft-fabric version of ExOfficio’s time-tested Give-N-Go undies will serve you well for years.
Whether we were sitting on a bus or walking hills, the ExOfficio Give-N-Go 2.0 Sport Mesh 6″ Boxer Brief nicely balanced fit, comfort, durability, and cost. It’s virtually identical to its predecessor and our previous pick, the Give-N-Go Sport Mesh. The only difference is a slight change in material: from 92% nylon and 8% spandex to 90% nylon and 10% spandex.
Front panels are notoriously difficult to size correctly, but the Sport Mesh’s simple, stretchy pouch should accommodate a wide variety of body types, whereas the more complicated, multi-flap designs found on Saxx briefs can feel superfluous or stifling, depending on your personal situation. The Sport Mesh stretches as you move and retains shape well. It had the quickest-wicking performance of all the underwear we tested and dried fairly quickly, too.
ExOfficio made its name as a travel-underwear company with its long-lasting classic Give-N-Go model, which we also tested and has since been replaced by the 2.0 version (which we haven’t tried out yet). The Sport Mesh version has the features that made the Give-N-Go famous but pairs them with a better, softer, stretchier fabric. It also has a 3D front panel, a major improvement over the flat front panel on the original Give-N-Go. Our tester felt supported and contained, regardless of his movement.
What set the ExOfficio Give-N-Go Sport Mesh apart from the rest is that it transfers moisture away from the body better than the competitors. It is the ideal pair of undies for sweaty activities and hot locales. This pair also had better odor treatment than most of the others we tried, a feature appreciated by athletes and lazy launderers alike. “I have worn these boxers for years,” said our male tester, “and they have never let me down. They definitely combat odor.”
At 2.65 ounces (among the lightest we tested), the ExOfficio briefs fit compactly in luggage without a lot of bulk. They’re easier to fold than other underwear, with a more articulated front pouch.
Another advantage ExOfficio has over other brands we tested is that it offers a wider variety of cuts, colors, and sizes. Though we tested the green 6-inch boxer brief, if you want good performance in a specific color or leg length, it’s likely ExOfficio offers your combo. They are also among the most widely available performance underwear.
Our personal experience after years of wearing the original ExOfficio Give-N-Go shows that the odor-proofing antibacterial treatment eventually fades, and with it, the ability to wear them for multiple days in a row. But the fabric itself is nearly indestructible. The same can almost be said of the Sport Mesh version. Despite some early signs of pilling—especially in the perineum and the area between the legs—after six months of daily wear of a single pair (yeah, gross—we didn’t ask him to do this), our tester said this pair didn’t manage to develop any holes, despite some initial pilling. So if you can live with the old-sweatshirt look or don’t need to impress anyone with your undies, the Sport Mesh will serve you well for a long time.
The ExOfficios had a good fit, but it wasn’t quite as perfect as that of more-expensive underwear we tested. The waistband can roll over, although it doesn’t dig. During backpacking trips, the six-inch boxer brief caused our tester some slight chafing between the thighs (he attributed this to the size of his thighs, as this is a problem he had with all the underwear). This issue could be mitigated by opting for the longer, nine-inch model, which we did not test. Our tester also attributes chafing to the fact that he wore the same pair for a few days, allowing the accumulation of salt, dirt, and other substances that could contribute to or exacerbate rubbing.
Our tester also noted that although the ExOfficio Give-N-Go Sport Mesh wicks away sweat and dries quicker than the competition, the times when you do manage to get them soaked, they can stick to the skin and be harder to remove than our other picks.
The Give-N-Go Sport Mesh also didn’t top the charts in our drying-time test. They took a bit less than 2½ hours to fully dry on a line compared with two hours for the fastest-drying boxers, but it’s unlikely that the extra 20 to 30 minutes of drying time will make or break any situation.
Amazon reviewers and Snarky Nomad warn that sizes run large, so size down if you can. Those with athletic thighs or butt may find the waistband and thigh holes don’t correspond to your body dimensions. ExOfficio offers a 60-day return program for unused items (with tags still attached) bought their its website, so if you aren’t sure what size to get, you can afford to make a few wrong guesses and the company will cover the return shipping.
Well-tailored and comfortable, these extra-soft, adjustment-free boxer briefs are a treat at a premium price.
If you’re willing to pay a premium for something with a better fit and stretchier, softer fabric, the Tommy John Air Mesh Boxer Brief 8” is a great upgrade. Our tester said they “fit like a fine tailored piece of clothing, yet excelled during strenuous exercise.” The fabric moved with the body, requiring no adjustment throughout the day. The undies didn’t dig, sag, or ride up. Tommy John scored higher than any other pair we tested, getting near-perfect marks in all categories. But these briefs cost $6 more than our pick and more than twice the price of our budget pick.
What made the Tommy Johns stand out for our tester was that it had an easily accessible fly and the best front pouch of any boxer brief we tested. The fly allows exit from the top, not the side, which our tester found convenient. He said this design allowed for a great flow of pee while also reducing pressure on the urethra to reduce dribble.
Snarky Nomad also likes the Tommy John boxer brief, despite some pilling issues. In his review, he notes that “most irritation is caused by the contents of the front pouch coming into contact with the leg...if the contents of the front pouch are properly surrounded, they are also immobilized, and they can’t escape the confines of the front pouch at all, and will never come into contact with the leg.” Snarky Nomad and our tester both agree that a standout feature of the Tommy John is that the front pouch is not flat, instead shaped to safeguard its contents. It also lacks seams that can rub in an area that really should not be chafed.
Another benefit of the Tommy Johns is the wide range of sizes—from small to 4XL. However, color options are more limited compared with ExOfficio.
Tommy John offers among the best return policies we’ve seen on any product: “The Best Pair You’ll Ever Wear” allows first-time online purchasers to love the product or keep it with money back if reported within 30 days. The company also offers free return shipping labels within 30 days for unused products.
These light, stylish, quick-drying hipsters stay in place, whether you’re walking, flying, or hanging upside down.
Add 3 to cart (select colors)
The Patagonia Women’s Active Hipster doesn’t sacrifice style for performance. It stays in place better than any other underwear we tested, dries quickly, and is more packable than anything else we tested. And it holds up great to strenuous activity and multiple washes—unlike the women’s version of ExOfficio Give-N-Go Sport Mesh, which sagged a bit on our tester and pilled noticeably after just a few wears.
The Patagonia Active Hipster has soft reinforced openings for the legs that prevent wedgies or riding up. We also enjoyed how the underwear is seamless, reducing areas where chafing or rubbing can occur.
Some Amazon and REI reviewers complain that the fabric is thinner than on earlier models, but we found that to not be a problem.
Most of the reviewers who have concerns about the current Active Hipster compare it with previous models, noting that the material isn’t as soft, the waistband isn’t as thick, it doesn’t have as much coverage, or isn’t as durable. Our testers found the material to be soft and were satisfied with the coverage. Compared with the other underwear we tested, which are among the finest in the genre, the current model of Patagonia Active Hipster is still the best.
We noticed no loose seams or pilling issues so far, but will continue to test for durability. Patagonia has among the best return and repair policies in the industry, but the company does charge for a return label.
Since we first tested the Active Hipster briefs, Patagonia has done away with the cutaway tag in its underwear. (Tag info is now printed onto the fabric itself.) Our only remaining complaints are the limited range of color/print options (four at the time of publication), and that the sizing is not particularly inclusive (it goes no larger than XL).
Comfortable, compact, and fast-drying, these are a great value. But they don’t fit quite as nicely and aren’t as supportive in the crotch as the ExOfficio briefs.
Made of similar fabric as the Airism Boxer Brief, with a no-ride cut, these undies are the least expensive of any we tested and among the best performing.
If you want to spend as little as possible without sacrificing performance, the Uniqlo Airism line lets you replace an entire underwear drawer on a tight budget, as long as you can deal with its slightly odd fit and less-effective odor-control treatment.
The Uniqlo Airism’s fit provides a comfortable amount of coverage in both the Boxer Brief and Seamless HipHugger cuts. The coverage aspect isn’t about modesty: We found that medium-coverage underwear stayed in place, and skimpier underwear gave wedgies over time. Similarly, the merino pairs we tested tended to bunch up from rubbing against our pants. The Airism underwear was also quite durable and held up through several handwashing cycles with no signs of wear. Travel gear reviewer Snarky Nomad loved them.
After trying all the options, our male tester noted that the Uniqlo Airism could have been a touch more supportive in the front pouch, but liked them overall, concluding: “I love these boxers and I think they offer the best of both worlds for affordability and comfort.” But the fit wasn’t ideal compared with the more-expensive options we tested. We think this is a result of the shortened inseam (leg length) combined with a taller rise (the distance from the crotch to the waistband), which can cause different fit issues on different body types. And although our tester did not experience this, other user reviewers report that this also leads to the boxers bunching up in the back.
If you find that the normal-fit boxer briefs don’t cut it, Snarky Nomad recommends getting the low-rise version and going a size up. The result is that it doesn’t ride too low. He also finds that the fit is better, especially in the front pouch.
The Seamless HipHugger cut also offers an excellent balance of comfort, affordability, and performance. However, we’re also happy that women’s Airism panties come in three cuts (HipHugger, Bikini, and High-Rise Briefs). Unfortunately, the two cuts that were at one point available in a more extended range of sizes (HipHugger and Bikini) no longer come in XXL.
As would be expected for the price, Uniqlo’s return policy is not particularly generous. It accepts garments that are “new, unused, unwashed, unaltered” with tags still attached and with original receipt. You can’t return in-store purchases via mail, but online purchases do come with a prepaid return label.
The ExOfficio Men’s Classic Give-N-Go Brief wasn’t as soft as the Sport Mesh version. It also didn’t fit as well and physically looks more like travel underwear than the Sport Mesh version.
The quite-affordable Boody Men’s Original Boxers ran small for their sizes and the men’s waistband rolled too easily. The bamboo-based fabric is a viscose rayon derivative, making it among the slowest to dry in drying-time tests. It is quite packable and the least expensive of all the undies we tested except for the Uniqlo.
The Stance Mariner was a tester favorite in terms of comfort, but we discovered after a poor showing during the drying-time test that Stance’s proprietary ButterBlend fabric is a rayon derivative—a fabric similar to cotton. Despite superior fit and comfort that would make them a good choice for everyday wear, the Stance did not wick or dry as effectively as other pairs we tested, which made them difficult to remove after sweaty workouts.
The ExOfficio Give-N-Go Sport Mesh Hi Cut Brief felt soft, dried quickly, and wicked well, but didn’t stay in place as well as our picks. However, we do appreciate that the Sport Mesh is available in more colors and styles than any other brand we tested. (The Hi Cut Brief has, however, been discontinued.)
The Boody Hipster Bikini and Boyleg Briefs ran small for their sizes. As mentioned in the men’s competition, these are made of a viscose rayon derivative, explaining why it was among the slowest to dry in tests. It is quite packable and the least expensive of all the undies we tested except for the Uniqlo.
We also tested and dismissed men’s and women’s briefs and underwear from Arc’teryx, Lululemon, Smartwool, and UnderArmour that have since been discontinued.
Our previous runner-up pick, the Smartwool Women’s Merino Sport Seamless Bikini, has been replaced by the Women’s Intraknit Bikini. The fit is similar, but the wool content has dropped from 72% to 39%, and the fiber blend is now 39% lyocell. We’ll need to test the new version thoroughly to see how it performs before being able to recommend it.
We also plan to test new and updated options for men and women from ExOfficio, Icebreaker, REI Co-op, Ridge Merino, Smartwool, Tommy John, and Under Armour, and keeping an eye out for products that offer inclusive sizing.
This article was edited by Ria Misra and Christine Ryan.
Francis Tapon, global nomad and author of The Hidden Europe, email interview
Michael Kleinmann, founder and CEO of The Underwear Expert, email interview
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Athletic Fabric Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).