For just over a year now, I’ve only worn five pairs of underwear – for much of that time, I’ve only had three pairs actually with me. At times, I’ve swapped as often as four times a day while at others I’ve gone as long as three weeks without changing or washing a pair. A few times I’ve even gone over a week straight without removing a pair at all (or taking a shower for that matter). It sounds absolutely disgusting, but I assure you that even in some of the most extreme circumstances I’ve been fresher feeling (and smelling!) than after a day at the office in a pair of Fruit of the Looms.
How is this possible? I can only assume some sort of voodoo magic, performed by the folks at ExOfficio as they conjure their Give-N-Go underwear from somewhere beyond the normal physical realm (note: much like a JC Penney catalog, that link is mildly not work-safe). If it’s not obvious yet, let’s be clear about one thing before I proceed to write an excessively lengthy review: there are very few things I will recommend with zero reservations and ExOfficio Give-N-Go boxer briefs are one of them. You should buy them, it’s that simple – it doesn’t matter if you will only wear them to the office and wash them every day, you should still buy them, and I’ll convince you in this review.
Allow me to warn you up front that this review is going to be borderline TMI throughout... Underwear can be a personal thing, but you need to know the raw reality, right…? If the phrase “swamp ass” triggers a moue of discomfort, may I suggest that my resounding endorsement be enough?
For years, I’ve worn Underarmor shirts but it never occurred to me to look for the same effect down below. Last summer I was in an outdoors store looking for some minor gear for my trip to South America and I saw ExOfficio Give-N-Go’s underwear out with their snappy slogan about exploring a billion countries in a few weeks with only a pair of underwear. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous, but I was intrigued by the idea and decided to google it.
I was completely amazed at the reviews for their products on Amazon – they had literally hundreds of reviews, every single one positive. In fact, in hours of research, I could not find anyone complaining about anything other than the price. This may be the only product in the history of the internet that people didn’t randomly hate on, so of course I immediately ordered a couple pairs.
Within a couple weeks, I was hooked – and the next month, I dropped over a hundred dollars ordering a few more pairs and switched to them full time. I will never go back to normal underwear. Let me explain why, using real world examples.
I worked as an IT manager, meaning I spent most of my time sitting at my desk staring at a computer. At the end of a normal day, part of the change into casual clothes would always include a change of underwear, yet when I started wearing ExOfficio I found myself completely comfortable at the end of the day. In fact, I stopped bothering to pack an overnight bag when spending the night elsewhere, instead happily wearing the same pair all day, evening, night, and morning (my condo was next to my office at work, so I usually changed in the morning). I even received compliments, but the convenience factor alone made it worth it.
Training is another issue entirely. As soon as a normal pair of underwear gets sweat soaked, it not only begins to chafe but also starts to lose support. This effect can make any long workout extremely uncomfortable and in some places dangerous (who wants to jump off walls with their boys bouncing around?), but this doesn’t happen with the Give-N-Go boxer briefs. They can be completely soaked (along with my pants, shirt, and everything else) and I’ve never had them chafe. Even better, they lose only the smallest amount of support, keeping the vast majority of that snug feeling you get when you first put them on.
Another somewhat frightening thing is the way they often seem to “reset” if you just leave them alone for a bit. You can wear a pair all day long then take them off at night and the next morning they will feel (and smell) like they just came out of the dryer. You can do this for days or even weeks at a time, depending on how much sweat you get in there, without ever touching them with water. A common thing for me when living a “normal” life is to wear one pair for the 9-5 for most of a week, switching to another pair for training – when I’m off on an adventure, I’ll just take a pair off at night and leave it out to reset for the morning, wearing it for weeks at a time until I get around to digging out a new pair.
Eventually, they will start to build up a slight odor or more likely you’ll just start to feel squicky about the entire thing (who doesn’t clean their underwear?) and you’ll wash them. The easiest and most common way I’d do this during my rotation is just to wear them into the shower after training. Rinse them off, hang them to dry, and wear them again the next day. At home, I’ll actually throw them into the washing machine every couple weeks, but that isn’t even really necessary.
So, yeah, buy ‘em. If the $25 price tag scares you (trust me, you will more than get that value out of them), it’s quite common to find them for $15 or so on sale at various places – just keep your eye out! And, a word of advice, buy the black… I have one light gray pair and they have a tendency to show weird stains when washed in “hard” water and air dried, it’s just the minerals in the water but nobody wants to see strange stains in their underwater.
ExOfficio does make a ton of other stuff aside from their underwear line. I have two other pieces of their clothing – the first is the discontinued predecessor to the Halo long sleeve shirt, which I really enjoy and find to be a great all-around shirt, especially in the tropics. It was supposed to be my main shirt on the trip to Asia, but I accidentally left it on my bed and ran off just wearing a t-shirt!
They are permanently disfigured in many minor ways, with tar, rubber, oil, and paint burned into them from four continents and even a few small holes from close brushes with flaming objects. They are still my absolutely favorite pants, however, awesomely comfortable in extreme heat, surprisingly tough and tear resistant (in fact there’s not a single rip in mine), attractively simple, as capable of going weeks without washing as you’d expect from ExOfficio, and their ability to dry out quickly comes in really handy when you sweat through them or get soaked.
As such, I imagine that pretty much anything from them is pretty impressive. Ultimately what makes the biggest impact is the genuine durability – I am absolutely amazed that my Give-N-Go briefs and my Nio Amphi pants have put up with what I’ve throw at them over the last year and look to be ready to go for another.
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Cheers!