Tag Archive for: support small business

A guide to men’s ethical + organic underwear

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Last updated November 2021.

Underwear is something that most of us buy new. It’s something that I buy new. 90% of my wardrobe is second-hand, and I try to make sure that those things I do buy new are as sustainable and ethical as possible.

(Because I buy most things second-hand, I can afford to spend a little more on underwear.)

I try to support independent and sustainability-minded businesses (not only by choosing to buy their products, but also by purchasing from them directly rather than a third-party platform beginning with A), choose well-made, organic and fair trade products, and avoid unnecessary plastic packaging.

It’s not always possible, but with underwear there are some options.

Slowly slowly I’ve been putting together a bit of a guide for ethical, organic and fair trade underwear. I’ve previously written about ethical and organic women’s underwear brands, and ethical bras and bralette options. Today, I’ve put together a list of options for men’s underwear.

This post contains some affiliate links. You can read more at the end of this post.

All of these brands are ones I’d recommend (I wouldn’t list any that I didn’t). Because they all offer something different and it is impossible to have favourites, I’ve listed them below in alphabetical order instead.

Bhumi

Company HQ: Australia / Fairtrade: YES / Organic: YES / Made from: 95% cotton, 5% elastane / Made in: India / Ships: Worldwide

Bhumi is an Australian company selling organic cotton products. Their mens’ range includes briefs, trunks (pictured), mid-length trunks and boxers.

Sizes: S – XL

Website: bhumi.com.au

Etiko underwear

Company HQ: Australia / Fairtrade: YES / Organic: YES / Made from: 95% cotton, 5% elastane / Made in: India / Ships: Worldwide

Etiko is a family-owned and operated clothing company with an emphasis on protecting human rights and transparency. All their products are certified organic, fair trade and vegan. They make mens’ trunks in four colours: heather grey, black, peacock and eclipse stripe (pictured).

Sizes: S – XXL

Website: www.etiko.com.au

John Lewis & Partners

Company HQ: UK / Fairtrade: No / Organic: YES / Made from: cotton / Made in: not declared / Ships: Worldwide

John Lewis & Partners are more corporate than any others on the list, but I included them as the business is actually owned by the people who work there (there are no external shareholders) and they are more committed to sustainability than most. Plus I was struggling to find a UK option, and John Lewis have a surprisingly good mens’ range in organic cotton: briefs, keyhole briefs, button boxers, hipster trunks, trunks (pictured) and button fly trunks.

Sizes: S – XL

Website: johnlewis.com

Laura’s Underthere

Company HQ: Canada / Fairtrade: N/A / Organic: N/A (second-hand and upcycled fabric) / Made from: upcycled jersey / stretch knit / Made in: Canada / Ships: USA and Canada

Laura’s Underthere makes unique limited edition underwear made from upcycled jersey and stretch knit material. All of the designs are gender inclusive (Laura calls it genderful) and for every pair purchased, another pair is donated to someone in need. The pouched boxers are pictured.

Sizes: XXS – XXXXL

Website: laurasunderthere.com

Living Crafts

Company HQ: Germany / Fairtrade: YES / Organic: YES / Made from: 95% cotton, 5% elastane or 100% cotton / Made in: India / Ships: Worldwide

Living Crafts is a German company specializing in organic cotton textiles, with a good range of men’s underwear. They offer boxers (which they call pants – pictured) and longer, looser boxer shorts either with or without elastane. Their factories are 100% wind powered.

Sizes: S – XXL

Website: livingcrafts.de

Nisa Men

Company HQ: New Zealand / Fairtrade: No / Organic: uncertified / Made from: cotton or merino, elastane / Made in: New Zealand / Ships: Worldwide

Nisa have a line of men’s organic cotton boxer briefs in three colours: black (maroon trim), grey (mustard trim – pictured) and navy (grey trim).

Sizes: S – XL

Nisa employ women from refugee backgrounds to sew their underwear in Wellington, New Zealand. They state that they aim to source organic certified cotton ‘wherever they can’.

Website: nisa.co.nz

Organic Basics

Company HQ: Denmark / Fairtrade: No / Organic: YES / Made from: 95% cotton, 5% elastane / Made in: Turkey / Ships: Worldwide

Organic Basics have three styles of boxer: organic cotton boxers, Tencel (an eco-friendly fibre made from wood pulp) boxer shorts (pictured) and Silvertech Active boxers made of 93% recycled nylon and 7% elastane.

There are a few colour options depending on the style (all styles come in black). Bonus: they package and ship their products without plastic.

Sizes: S-XXL

Website: organicbasics.com

Pact

Company HQ: USA / Fairtrade: YES (Factory) / Organic: YES / Made from: 95% Cotton 5% elastane / Made in: India / Ships: USA and Canada (International shipping currently on hold)

A US company with a good range of mens’ underwear styles and colours: briefs, trunks, boxer briefs (pictured), extended boxer briefs and knit boxers

Sizes: S – XXL

Website: wearpact.com

Peau Ethique

Company HQ: France / Fairtrade: YES (SAB000) / Organic: YES / Made from: 95% cotton, 5% elastane / Made in: India? / Ships: Worldwide?

Peau ethique is a French mother-and-daughter company making organic cotton underwear. They have two styles for men: briefs and boxers (pictured).

Sizes: S – XXL

Website: peau-ethique.com

Thunderpants

Company HQ: New Zealand / Fairtrade: YES / Organic: YES / Made from: 90% cotton, 10% spandex / Made in: New Zealand / USA / Ships: Worldwide

Thunderpants have two styles for men: original and fitted boxers. They have a lot of fun, printed designs which change regularly – black is also currently available.

Sizes: S – XL

Website: thunderpants.co.nz

(They also have dedicated site for the USA thunderpantsusa.com, with products made in Oregon, Portland stocking one men’s style: boxer briefs. Their newly launched UK site thunderpants.co.uk will be supplying products made in the north of England but current stock – men’s fitted boxer – is made in Australia)

Wama underwear

Company HQ: USA / Fairtrade: NO / Organic: YES uncertified / Made from: 53% hemp, 44% cotton, 3% spandex / Made in: China / Ships: Worldwide

WAMA have four styles: boxer briefs (pictured), trunks, boxers and briefs. All styles come in black; the boxer briefs come in green and hemp (a sandy colour) also. They are the only brand I’ve found that blend hemp with cotton.

WAMA are a Green America Certified Business and a PETA-Approved Vegan brand.

Sizes: S – 3XL

Website: wamaunderwear.com

Wonderpants

Company HQ: Australia / Fairtrade: YES / Organic: YES / Made from: cotton / merino, elastane / Made in: Australia / Ships: Worldwide

Wonderpants have a single boxer style of mens’ underwear, available in either cotton or merino. Cotton colours are black, charcoal, green, red ochre, grey marle (pictured) and charcoal with black; merino colours are blaze red, charcoal and midnight navy.

Sizes: S – XXL

Website: wonderpants.com.au

As always, I’d love to hear from you! If you have any great brand suggestions that I’ve missed, would like to give an impromptu product review (good or bad) or have any other comments or thoughts at all, please share below!

Disclaimer: this post contains some affiliate links, meaning if you click a link to another website and choose to make a purchase, I may be compensated a small amount at no extra cost to yourself. My recommendations are always made with you, my readers, as my priority. I only align myself with companies whose products and ethos I genuinely love, and I only share companies and products with you that I believe you will be interested in.

Choose handmade: 5 zero waste items you don’t need to buy from big box stores

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It is much lamented here that, whilst I’d love to be able to sew and crochet and craft, the reality is that I cannot. What I can do is support those people who do, and do it well.

If I had the choice of buying something locally made by a person whose name I know, over buying something mass produced in a factory and sold by a faceless corporation, I’d always choose the former.

It isn’t always possible or within my budget (bespoke furniture is very different from handmade hankies!), but where it is, I always try to support local and independent.

When it comes to reusables, there are plenty of people making great items, (bonus – often out of upcycled materials) and with a real focus on reducing waste at every step.

If you’re looking for some reusables to help you refuse single-use packaging and reduce your waste, I’d really encourage you to think about supporting small and independent businesses first. I’ve put together this list to give you some ideas.

As you know, I’d never encourage anyone to buy anything they didn’t need, so please don’t see this as a shopping list. You might not need anything, and I’m definitely not trying to persuade you otherwise! Instead, see it as inspiration, and be practical about what you really need. The best reusables are always the ones that are actually used.

This post is a collaboration with Etsy and contains affiliate links.

Reusable Produce Bags

There are plenty of reusable produce bag options, and I find different styles work for different needs. Mesh ones are great because they are see-though (handy at the checkout) but they aren’t going to hold sugar, flour or spices!

If you’re looking for upcycled fabric, there are plenty of people making produce bags out of old net curtains and upcycled lace. If you’ve got the choice, I’d recommend finding a local seller (that way, the carbon footprint will be lower).

Image credit: Stella Stellina

Unpaper Towel

Full disclaimer: this is not something that I actually use. I used to use paper kitchen towel wrapped in plastic back in the day, but never thought to track down a reusable version when I went plastic-free and zero waste. I just went without. Nowadays I make do with old kitchen towels, and it works for me.

But I know lots of people love paper towel, and if you’re not willing to give it up altogether, I do think unpaper towel is a great alternative.

Some use cotton, others use fleece, some have poppers/snaps to keep them together, and of course all the sizes and ‘roll’ lengths vary, so think about what would be most useful to you.

Image credit (top): Marley’s Monsters

Image credit (bottom): Earth Kind Creations

Cleaning Cloths and Reusable Wipes

Continuing on the cleaning theme, there are plenty of people creating cleaning cloths and wipes out of repurposed fabric. (Sure, many are making products out of brand new fabric too, but my zero waste preference will always be old over new.)

If you don’t have old towels or other rags at home you can repurpose to make your own cleaning cloths, better to support independent makers than big pharmaceutical companies, in my view.

Image credit: Upcycled Creations CAD

Reusable Menstrual Pads

Reusable menstrual products are winners in every way: zero or very low waste, long lasting (meaning money saving) and much more comfortable than their single-use counterparts.

Reusable menstrual pads come in all shapes, sizes and absorbencies. Many will have a plastic PUL liner, but it’s possible to find completely plastic-free versions that even have metal poppers/snaps.

Image credit (top): Earth Kind Creations

Image credit (bottom): SnugglePot Cotton Pads

Natural Zero Waste Make-Up

I once attempted to make black eyeliner using a candle flame, a sieve and some almonds. It was very messy and my sieve took month to lose the charred evidence. Needless to say, I now prefer to leave to the experts.

Fortunately, there are two ladies making excellent products with natural ingredients and zero waste packaging: Danni from Dirty Hippie Cosmetics and Laura from Clean-Faced Cosmetics.

Both can send products without labels if required, will only send things like (bamboo) brushes if actually needed, and don’t use unnecessary plastic to package their products.

Image credit (top): Dirty Hippie Cosmetics

Image credit (bottom): Clean-Faced Cosmetics

If you’re in the market for reusables or zero waste items, the first thing I’d suggest is double-checking with yourself that you definitely need it, and definitely can’t make do with something you already have.

Once you’re sure it’s something that you need, check out local and handmade options and support small makers before you even put a foot in a big box store.