I haven’t ever worn a pair of Zylas underwear before, so when I got the 4034 Brief in the mail, I was excited to try them out. Once I had them in my hands I had a mixed first impression. The brief is mostly made of Nylon, an underwear fabric that I haven’t had much luck with. While I am not a huge fan of the 70s inspired conglomeration of greens and vertical stripes, these briefs do have some style to them.

Another first reaction before I had before I got them on was the size of the waist, it looked too small to match the sizing chart for what a Zylas XL brief should be (34-36). Once I got them on, my initial impression seemed accurate, as the waist was a little snug.  You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that when it comes to men’s briefs, if the waist is snug, it’s likely going to be snug in all the wrong places too, but this turned out to be only partially true. I decided to wear them for a full work day to really put the brief through its paces. While I was nervous about how the brief would hold up, with its blend of nylon and spandex, these briefs stood the test of a busy day.

I did have an issue with sizing, when I peeled them off in the evening, I did have quite the “imprint” on my 36″ waist but over the course of the day, I wasn’t experiencing any discomfort around my waist. As with many Latin/South American brands, these weren’t made with U.S. sizing. While there are several brands that can get away with this, the XL at 34-36 is going to be too small if you’re wearing a 36 pant size. Quite honestly, I’d say if you’re wearing a 34 jean, you’ll want to go with the XL.

As I mentioned above, I haven’t been a huge fan of some of the nylon pairs in my collection, but the way this brief uses nylon I was pleasantly surprised. The fabric had vertical perforations throughout, making the briefs very breathable, so that helped score this brief some points.  As far as the look of this brief, I am of two minds. Green is one of, if not my favorite color, but it can be overdone and the penchant Zylas has for vertical stripes overall, could be re-thought. While I appreciate the attempt, I am not a fan of the 1970s fashion trend of purposefully clashing several shades of the same color together, but I think this brief could have really been tied together well if the waistband and the elastic leg openings were the same shade of green as one of the stripes in the brief, instead it’s a lighter lime which clashes with the neon green stripes that feature prominently.

The style of the brief is described as an “almost bikini” and there has been a bit of a pickup of this type of style across several different labels. When you wear this style it certainly feels a little more comfortable and less boxy than a traditional cut brief and that is good. If I had to make one complaint overall though, it would be that this style does not lend itself to the ample pouch that my anatomy requires. That is not to say I felt too crammed in these briefs, but this brief certainly does not feature a contour pouch, which is something I need.

Pros: 

• Breathable Nylon – a novel concept!
• Fashion-forward cut

Cons: 

• Lacks a contour pouch
• Sizing for me didn’t work

Ratings: 

• Fit – C
• Sizing – C
• Construction/Materials – A
• Styling – B
• Daily Wear – C
• Overall – C+

Zylas furnished this pair for review