Elementos brief – A review. With runway video!
July 21st, 2010Elementos, or Element(o)s to be correct, is a fascinating upcoming men’s underwear brand out of Brazil.
The brand made its way onto my radar via online men’s underwear store UnderBriefs.com, which arranged for me to get hold of a couple of samples.
And I’m glad they did!
Since I hadn’t heard much about the brand I really didn’t know what to expect. The last couple of days I’ve been wearing first the Elementos brief followed by the Elementos trunk.
In brief (pun intended), both styles are some of the better options I’ve seen in a while when it comes to comfortable basic men’s underwear.
What’s basic underwear?
Well, to me it’s no-fuzz (as in no invasive lift technology, not too low-rise, nor too skimpy, etc.) underwear for everyday purposes, made from a quality fabric that feels soft against the skin, covers everything up and provides proper fit.
Being the Youtube addict I am, I’ve dug up video of an Element(o)s fashion show where you get a good view of both styles. Take a look.
Skip to the 00:58 mark to see the trunk and to the 02:30 mark to see the brief.
At the bottom of the post I’ve listed some of my other favorite basic underwear ranges.
Now, though, spotlight is on the excellent Elementos brief.
Style
The Element(o)s brief is a modern classic brief cut, meaning not a full cut, but not too low-rise either. At their narrowest, the sides measure 2,5-3 inches including waistband (the sides can stretch to 3 inches when you’re wearing the brief). This also means that the brief doesn’t look too much like a bikini brief cut. Overall the brief rests perfectly on the hips.
Pouch design
With basic underwear you often get a standard-sized, double-layered pouch – and so it is with the Elementos brief. Furthermore, the pouch has very discrete center seam that holds the two layers together.
I will get back to the special fabric used for this brief later in the review, but it’s safe to say that the pouch enjoys some serious stretch capabilities which ensure loads of room for your stuff. I didn’t feel that this feature compromised the overall fit and support of the pouch.
Back design
The back design is where the Elementos brief really shines. For the size and shape of my butt this brief provided the best coverage I’ve experienced in ages. The leg openings were cut so that they separated the upper thigh from the butt cheeks just right.
What this means is that the back of the briefs doesn’t crawl in between the butt cheeks (due to too much fabric with leg openings ending too far down on the thigh). The same thing can happen if the back of the brief is too skimpy with leg openings ending halfway up on the butt cheeks.
Honestly, the Elementos brief was a pleasure to wear both front and back.
Waistband
The waistband of the Elementos brief is a little more than 1 inch wide. Nothing much to say about it other than it has the Element(o)s Brazil brand name embroidered in black and white to contrast the overall black look of the brief.
The waistband has standard stretch, which didn’t cause any muffin top effect.
Praise must be given to Elementos for leaving out the product information patch that’s normally stitched to the inside rear of the waistband. Like we saw it with the Todd and Terry Hamish trunk, they’ve printed the information on the inside of the trunk below the waistband.
Fabric quality
The brief is made from a very exotic and eco-friendly 96 % Viscose of Bamboo and 4 % Elastane. The bamboo fiber-based fabric feels incredibly soft and light while still providing sufficient stretch.
You know, plant-based fiber fabrics and eco-friendliness seem to be all the craze this summer. Remember how Aussiebum went for banana fibers for their Banana collection?
Color/design
The Elementos brief is black with white tribal on both sides of frontal panel. The tribal patterns are subtle and do not command much attention. Besides the black and white color theme you can go for a blue variant as well.
Fit
As hinted throughout the review, the fit of the Elementos brief was just wonderful. I wore a size M for a 32/33 inch waist, and I can see absolutely no need to size either up or down.
Price
The Elementos brief is a very reasonable buy at US $22. In general, you shouldn’t pay more than $25 for a pair of men’s basic underwear.
Buy Elementos underwear here
Other men’s underwear collections which fall into the basic category include
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