Review – Marcuse Bounce Brief – Underwear News Briefs

Marcuse is a brand I had never heard of before receiving the test pair. It is yet another import from an Australian company. AUS seems to be home to a growing number of designer underwear manufacturers. This review covers their ‘bounce brief.’

This pair is made in China from a blend of 90% modal/10% elastane. I am a fan of modal blends which are really soft and have a lot of stretch to them. The fabric used in this pair is extremely thin, almost sheer. It is very comfortable, but the use of such thin fabric has some tradeoffs which I’ll get into later.

The cut of this pair is closer to what I’d consider to be a bikini than a brief. The sides are quite narrow, tapering down to about 1″ (excluding the waistband thickness) and creating a higher arch along the edge of the leg hole as it moves back. I don’t mind that cut, but figure someone considering purchasing this pair should realize what it is.

I do like the manufacturer’s choice of color panels. These pairs have a two-tone scheme which is not completely apparent in the photos since the alternate color panel only exists in the few inches of your… ahem, how should I phrase it… taint region? Again, not completely visible, but I think it’s a nice touch. Similarly, the exterior stitching in the contrasting color is aesthetically pleasing. Not too garish.

I had an extremely easy day wearing these. I did very little physical activity. I essentially sat at my desk for 9 hours and then drove home. In spite of this relative softball of a day the underwear had a hard time staying put. It didn’t ride up at all, but what I found was that the narrow parts of the sides and front became a bit twisted or bunched up on themselves. Looking at how this pair was made I see two possible culprits.

First, going back to the fabric, like I said it is very thin which is comfortable, but I also suspect limits its ability to retain its shape over time. I would love to see them use a slightly heavier gauge of the same fabric and see if it makes a difference.

Second, the trim around the leg-hole has an unusual detail near the hip. Instead of a making a continuous loop about the leg-hole, the trim stops, makes a 90 degree turn north, and makes a B line for the waist band. I think was more for looks than any functional reason, but I think that discontinuity in the reinforcement of the leg hole seems like somewhat of a weak link, letting the fabric do whatever it wants. Perhaps it’s the traditionalist in me, but I would much prefer to see how the pair would perform if they made that detail continuous.

Last, I would note that the pouch design, as with several other pairs of late, follows the trend of pushing things up and out. I’ve come to accept that this is a theme in designer underwear that will not go away anytime soon. Personally, I could do without it, but I would not call it a deal-breaker given all the other nice aspects about this pair.

To sum things up:

Pros