And I feel obliged to share it with mankind, lest we continue to suffer in sweaty, stiff, uncomfortable jocks:
Bamboo.
Apparently, bamboo undies are a thing. It’s soft like modal, breathable like cotton, and moisture-wicking like wool. It’s also totally natural, comfortable, and easier on the planet.
Piece of trivia for you: It takes more than 5,000 gallons of water to produce enough cotton for 1 T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
Anyway, back to my wooden undies. After going down the rabbit-hole of bamboo fabric discoveries, I did what any husband left home alone wielding a credit card and a massive lack of self-discipline would do (no, not that): I ordered 6 pairs.
One of those pairs was Step One. Here’s my Step One underwear review.
Which Step One Underwear Did I Buy?
Boxer (longer leg)
Trunk (shorter leg)
Step One Boxers in Butter Nuts.
This brand keeps it simple—they offer one model of underwear (and it’s a goodie) in two styles:
Australian-born brand Step One have all the blokes covered with sizes from small to 6XL (that’s a massive range from 28” - 55” waist). The trunk option, which sits around 1.2” shorter in the leg than the boxers, also comes in 2XS and XS, for the smaller dudes among us.
What You Need to Know About Step One Underwear
My First Impressions of Step One
Big fan of the marketing and color names: Butter Nuts, Mistle Toes, Juicy Plums, Black Currants—these all give my simple mind a bit of a giggle. Despite the cheeky names, there are really only 10 colors—9 if you count Black Currants and Smoking Gun as being pretty much the same except for the thigh panel.
As a side note, this brand gets its name from the fact that putting on your undies is step one when you get dressed. They carry that straight-forward, no-fluff ethos through everything they do.
Special mention for Step One’s First Pair Guarantee—a solid move that more online retailers need to be getting behind (see what I did there?).
The First Pair Guarantee means Step One will refund your purchase price or send you a different size if you don’t love the first pair you buy from them. You don’t need to send the original pair back, if you’re wondering.
Highlight 1: Comfort
How do these feel? In a word: awesome.
These are possibly the softest boxers I’ve ever had caress my junk. Soft, smooth, silky, and lightweight, these bamboo underwear feel like they should have cost me more—a lot more.
The waistband feels snug and secure, it doesn’t twist or rub, and it’s high-profile enough to hold its position while still being smooth and soft to the touch.
Highlight 2: The 3D Comfort Pouch
You know how the front panel of your underwear sit flat? Not here, buddy. The pouch has a supremely constructed 3D contour to support your Black Currants, and an elastic strip in the stitching to cup your Smoking Gun in comfort and style.
Added bonus: The 3D Comfort Pouch is like a WonderBra for your junk—accentuating and enlarging the assets. The wife side-eyed me suspiciously a few weeks back and accused me of stuffing the pouch. It was a proud moment for me.
Ride Up
Step One’s UltraGlyde panels—recognizable because they are always a contrasting color to the main hue—use what is, effectively, compression legging fabric. It reduces friction—meaning less chafing—and eliminates ride up and frontal wedgies.
It works effectively through my morning jog and a weekend of outdoor chores, and I suspect it’d hold up well through a more serious outdoor adventure like hiking.
Breathability
A few weeks back, I was working in the yard when I got that old, familiar swamp-crack feeling. Baffled, I checked to see what boxers I had on. Surely not my faithful Step One boxers, I exclaimed (in my head).
Nope. It was a well-known, higher priced pair I’d originally sworn by. I’d never noticed the swamp-crack issue in them before, but the superior breathability and moisture wicking of bamboo is clearly exposing some serious shortcomings in my undie arsenal.
Highlight 3: Ethics
Weird that I bring ethics up in an underwear review, right?
Hear me out:
That’s huge. And by supporting a brand like Australia’s own Step One, I can be a part of switching away from reckless, dangerous, cruel practices. (And also, my junk looks huge in these undies, just as a reminder.)
The Recap
Should You Buy Step One Underwear?
If you're looking for comfort, cuppage, and a chafe-free good time, you've come to the right place, my friend. And thanks to Step One's risk-free First Pair Guarantee, you can spend your hard
Ready for a whole other world of junk-cupping comfort? You can’t go past the Step One boxer brief in Juicy Plums (you can find it here).
