In this modern age the internet is fueled largely by health platitudes and thirst traps. In a fascinating sort of way, one sort of begets the other.
It all depends on where you look. Depending on what corner of social media you call your home, you might think anyone who wears underwear with even a single fiber of polyester is effectively sterilizing themselves. Others refuse to give it a second thought and simply go with what’s most comfortable, or what looks the best, or what their mom or girlfriend buys them.
All understandable circumstances, everyone marches to their own beat. One choice is no less or more valid than the other; despite the fact that many will defend the circumstance of their underwear drawer to the bitter end.
Our goal is simple; create the perfect pair of underwear. Underwear you look forward to putting on in the morning. Underwear that feels in sync with the rest of your outfit. A garment that would feel perfectly at home poking out of your waistband while taking a fit pic for Instagram. Something that would make the American Eagle boxer x shredded boot cut jean wearing teenagers from 2007 nod in complete approval.
When it comes to creating the perfect pair of underwear, the first step is fairly crucial. Namely, “what are we making it out of”?
The options are plentiful, and each has pros and cons.
You will find plenty of brands that list out their preferred materials alongside alternatives in ways that are simultaneously editorialized but still sound like you’re being lectured by an orthorexic schoolmarm. We’ve taken the liberty of writing up the pros and cons of every fabric in a way that’s not annoying.
Cotton – Enter cotton. The prodigal fabric of health influencers everywhere. The gold standard of people asking “why are you using XYZ fabric? Just use cotton???
Yes, we get asked this constantly. The modern would has successfully oneshotted a non-insignificant number of people into thinking anything other than cotton is akin to sterilization, that fluoride is the ever-present antichrist, and that 5G cell phone towers will turn you dog gay. While we appreciate the concern for your health, there is a legitimate reason for why we currently do not have a cotton line of products. Emphasis on CURRENTLY because as I write this in September 2025 I can’t deny that we have a few cotton irons in the fire.
If you own any genuine and “natural cotton” T shirts (which, when genuine, are on the pricier side) go ahead and grab one. Feel the material in your hands. Grab it at two points and give it a few tugs. Now do it with the T shirt too.
You’ll notice that the fabric is not *stretchy*. It has a little bit of give but generally wants to hold its shape.
All-cotton garments, especially 100% organic cotton shirts/sweaters/scarves etc, are much more conducive to the use of cotton. While they generally run at a higher GSM (Grams per Square Meter aka how ‘heavy’ the fabric is) they simply don’t need the type of stretch you would expect out of something like underwear.
What does this mean? It means you can absolutely make 100% all cotton, zero synthetic fiber underwear. As long as you’re cool with;
- A loose fitting boxer style
- A button fly ensure it actually stays on your waist
- Poor shape retention
- Unsightly discoloration
Will we figure out an amicable solution for the cotton problem? Unlikely, seeing as you would sooner find success placating a flat earther than a bona-fide spandexphobe. But we will try nonetheless.
Wool – When we talk about wool in the context of underwear, what’s usually on the table is Merino Wool. Ideally you aren’t wearing underwear made out of your ski bum cousin’s beanie collection.
Merino wool comes from a specific breed of sheep that naturally grows its fleece in ultra-fine fibers that yield a soft, downright luxurious fabric worthy to cradle any man’s most prized possession. It really is a great product.
The one glaring downside of this comes in the form you might expect; it’s pricy. One of the most expensive ‘mass produced’ textiles available for garment manufacturers today. Yes we’re aware that Loro Piana “Gift of Kings” and cashmere exist, no you don’t need to smugly comment about it. We’re talking specifically about the lowest grade of merino that’s set aside and auctioned specifically to be used in things like underwear and not a T shirt that Daniel Craig is going to walk the red carpet with.
It also has the glaring downside of not holding up well to repeated wash/dry cycles. Many wool purveyors will tell you that the processing of the fibers helps it hold up against conventional cycles. This is a half-truth. You aren’t going to nuke your merino products with an occasional low-heat cycle but do it enough and you’ll see big loss in performance and comfort. For something that soils + washes as frequently as underwear, you’ll need to commit to air drying it in perpetuity. This is a personal choice, and we don’t judge.
Polyester – Most of the bad mouthing about straight polyester comes from health influencers trying to score cheap points and engagement. It’s a tired topic at this point and anyone still writing X threads or posting TikToks about how polyester underwear is slowly killing you should be listened to with a grain of salt.
It’s absolutely the case that straight polyester is not the most ideal fabric to use in men’s underwear – full stop. The brands that still print ‘polyester’ on their care labels are quite brazen for doing so in the modern age, but it’s mostly established brands like Lululemon doing it so they simply don’t care.
What they sell you on is comfort. Modern polyester blends are butter soft the first few times you wear them. The tech has come a long way; they can legitimately feel like you slipped into a pair of perfectly form fitting silk shorts and your first instinct is to feel all warm and fuzzy about your super comfy new underwear.
This, ironically, appeals to the broadest market. Despite what your corner of social media might say, the VAST majority of people simply do not care about the materials of their underwear. Only that it is comfortable. Polyester provides the highest apex of cost to comfort. There is no conspiracy and it does not go any deeper than this.
This is America, markets are free, and if people want to buy all plastic underwear, then that’s what supply chains will plow out. The only blame lies with the school of Austrian Economics.
Micromodal – This is the new shiny toy for many newer underwear brands.
Miromodal, a type of rayon, is ultrafine spun processed pulp from beechwood trees. Sounds off at first but then you try it on for the first and think “oh yeah, this bangs”. It’s soft, form fitting, practical, moisture wicking, breathable and holds its shape.
Now, we’re hyping this micromodal stuff quite a bit off the bat. And you might ask yourself why we aren’t using it in any of our products yet?
In the performance sense, modal is a bit of a glass cannon. It does many things very well, but where it lacks, it lacks.
It’s delicate in the sense that one hole or small scratch will snowball into a completely torn apart set of underwear quickly with no hope of repair.
It also suffers from its own success in that it can be *too soft*. At a certain point you realize that there is a happy medium between “burlap sack” and “chinchilla fur” when it comes to underwear. Multiple people to whom we provided micromodal samples or Coq Classics prototypes reported that they felt it was “too thin” or that they couldn’t believe it wasn’t polyester. It was the only fabric that yielded negative sensory feedback from testing.
While it only lost by a slim margin to our flagship fabric, we continue to sample and experiment with different types of rayon as we continue to quest to make the world’s most comfortable underwear.
Bamboo Viscose – Welcome to Maison du Coq, your bamboo hammock awaits.
There isn’t one single reason we chose to launch out flagship product, the Coq Classics, using bamboo viscose. We simply weighed every variable we could think of, and decided that it made the most sense.
Bamboo is sustainable, comfortable, antimicrobial (underrated trait for underwear), holds color and shape, and is highly resistant to pilling (also very underrated). After trying every fabric, this one made the most sense from the get go.
The lack of pilling is what piqued our interest from the get-go. If you have an extensive underwear drawer featuring several brands with multiple different types of fabric, it’s highly likely you have a pair that’s seen several games that’s got more pills than a pharmacy. Underwear as a garment is highly at risk of this, especially if you regularly wear denim or felted wool pants that have an abrasive effect. That and repeated wash/dry cycles. Bamboo is the only naturally derived fabric that stands up to pilling to the same degree as straight polyester.
The natural anti-microbial nature was the deal sealer. Underwear that holds up to lingering odors and sweat-induced bacterial growth is a winner in our eyes.
Effectively bamboo offers the maximum number of benefits obtained by straight up synthetics, while not being synthetic in nature. This wins.
We will update this list with more fabrics and additional commentary as we see fit or if we get chirped at the wrong way on social media. We could have ChatGPT trash all fabrics we don’t use while hyping up the ones we do like other brands, but we won’t. Consider this a short form landing page to learn about what fabric is best for the underwear you want, and why we will use certain types for certain product lines in the coming months.