Backpacker Magazine – Fall/Winter Gear Guide 2011

Gear Review: Icebreaker Spring Boxer Brief and Pace Hipster

Don’t muck up the performance of your pants by wearing cotton undies underneath.

by: Nancy Prichard Bouchard

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• Apparel
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• Jackets
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Don’t muck up the performance of your pants by wearing cotton undies underneath. These greatfitting,18.6-micron wool Boxer Briefs and Hipsters (women’s, $40) wick moisture and work with your layering system, rather than against it.

“So comfortable, I truly forgot I was wearing them,” says one tester who wore the briefs for a week (with one wash) of birding and hiking along Connecticut’s Air Line Trail, followed by a sailing stint in the Caribbean. The boxers are snug-fitting without being tight; the Hipster is cut like a modest bikini bottom. Zero wedgies were reported and the fabric has just the right amount of spring (3 percent Lycra) to keep it from stretching out. We know: 55 bucks is steep for a pair of undies, but you’ll be wearing these on every trip for a long time.

$55
3 oz (men’s M)
m’s S-XXL, w’s XS-XL
icebreaker.com


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