Currently, mainstream underwear materials include pure cotton, modal, bamboo fiber, quick-drying fabric, and chemical fiber. Although the price of chemical fiber blended fabrics is low, it’s easy to cause adverse reactions.
Pure Cotton
It refers to 100% cotton. Underwear made of pure cotton fabric excels in moisture absorption but shows weakness in dehumidification (not easy to dry). At the same time, the elasticity of cotton is not so strong. Adding 5 – 10% spandex to cotton can help improve the underwear’s elasticity and fitness. “Lycra cotton” underwear (i.e. 95% cotton + 5% spandex) is favored by consumers today.
Bamboo Fiber
It’s more and more popular. Its moisture-wicking ability is higher than that of ordinary cotton fabric. Moreover, it’s good at natural antibacterial, bacteriostatic, mite removal, deodorization, and ultraviolet resistance. If you want high-quality bamboo fabric, you need to make sure it’s made through a mechanical rather than a chemical process. Given the complex production (more difficult than the extraction of cotton), bamboo fiber underwear is more expensive. Additionally, bamboo fiber is relatively fragile, whereby blending can solve this problem. The cotton bamboo blend is the mainstream in the market.
Modal
Extracted from shrubs, it’s a kind of natural plant fiber like pure cotton. It’s not only as soft and comfortable as pure cotton, but also more breathable, 50% higher than pure cotton. Meanwhile, its stretchability is higher than that of pure cotton and polyester cotton, reducing the phenomenon of broken ends in manufacturing. Fabric thread count (80s) is not easy to wrinkle (better than pure cotton) and is less prone to deformation than modal with the specification of 50s. Micromodal, beyond the original modal technology, is highly valued by underwear manufacturers. The textile cost of modal fiber is generally more expensive than pure cotton.
Quick-drying Fabrics
Coolmax is a kind of polyester, but the different structural plane brings quick-drying and elasticity. Such characteristics make Coolmax suitable for sports. It is the preferred fabric for world-famous sports underwear brands.
Which fabric is the best one? There’s no definite answer.
From the perspective of health, the most suitable fabric is bamboo fiber, then modal, pure cotton (Lycra cotton is also OK), followed by fast-drying fabrics (sports scenes), chemical fiber blended fabrics.
However, it varies from person to person, up to the individual consideration and demand.
