How Often Should You Replace Your Underwear

This is one of the most popular questions we get. Some of our customers have reluctantly confessed to keeping pairs in rotation for over a decade. Needless to say, we strongly advise against this. Getting value from your underwear is not about how long it lasts, it’s about a quality experience when you put them on every morning. Considering the amount you spend on the rest of your wardrobe, the balance is often way off with underwear only seeming to deserve the dregs of your budget.

First on last off

We believe underwear is important. It’s the first thing you put on and the last thing you take off in a day. It’s the closest physical relationship you’ll have with any item of clothing. Given all this, there are a few things you should be keeping in mind.

A healthy rotation - 12 pairs, for 12 months only

If you’re guilty of squeezing all the life out of a pair of underwear you could be robbing yourself of a better experience every single day.

Start with 12 pairs of underwear in rotation for a year. Naturally fine fabrics won’t last forever, in fact the finer the quality the less durable they are. It might seem a brief relationship (no pun intended) but it’s an intense one. This equates to wearing each pair for 30 days straight – that’s a whole month, 18+ hours a day, every day. Most t-shirts don’t get anything like that wash and wear before they are replaced. Having 12 quality pairs of underwear in rotation will ensure you’re getting the best life out of your underwear and you’ll always have a fresh pair to put on.

How do you stay on top of it?

You don’t have to. Life’s busy, and there’s plenty to be thinking about before worrying about how long you’ve had your underwear.

Out with the old in with the new

We wouldn’t encourage an annual underwear exodus if it meant sending them to landfill. We’ll take your past it pairs and recycle the fibres. Once you’ve hit the 12 month mark, you can send your underwear back to us in our special ‘underwear amnesty’ biodegradable bags, which we provide with each order or are available on request. We then turn the fibres into insulation materials. As a thank you, for each recycled pair of underwear, we’ll give you 20% off your next underwear purchase. You can also drop into our store on Chiltern street to recycle your pair.

How to get the most out of your underwear

Premium fabrics, proper washing habits, and a healthy rotation.

Alongside wondering how long to keep your underwear, we also get a lot of questions about how to maintain your underwear, how to wash them and get the most out of them. Fine, natural fabrics are our choice for underwear – cotton, lyocell and bamboo. These natural fibres are soft-touch, breathable and the blends we’ve developed offer the best mix of support, softness and durability – specifically for underwear and it’s purpose.

As with all-natural fibres, they are more delicate than synthetics and you need to treat them with care. Wash at 30 degrees. Modern washing technology and detergents mean you really don’t need to wash at 60 to get things clean. Do not tumble dry your underwear, the heat will shock the natural fibres and denature them. Hang dry them for the best longevity and iron your boxers along with your shirts for a life-changing experience when you put them on in the morning.

It’s more than just pants

Economists have used underwear in the past as a measure of economic prosperity. Alan Greenspan’s theory used an uplift in men’s underwear sales as an early indicator of an economic uptick. So if there was ever a reason to buy a new pair, now’s the time…

Head back to the Hamilton and Hare journal to read more articles, or alternatively browse our underwear, clothing and complete collection.