American Apparel Baby Rib Men's Brief Review
Posted by Underwear Guy at 3/11/2008 10:05 PM and is filed under Men's Underwear,Underwear Reviews,brief 
Underwear Guy Review: American Apparel Baby Rib Men's Brief Designer/Manufacturer: American Apparel
Website: www.americanapparel.net
Price: $12.00
Blog reader Brian wrote in with some questions one of which was concerning my opinion on the American Apparel (AA) baby rib brief. This review covers that item in all its unfortunate detail and hopefully will help other readers make an informed purchase decision. For those of you unfamiliar with American Apparel it is a Los Angles, CA-based designer and manufacturer of sweatshop-labor-free clothing for men and women. The clothing items from AA are usually simple and basic but available in a broad variety of colors and a good range of fabric blends including organic cottons. Although anyone can wear these clothing items I would say in terms of marketing, AA clothing tends to be directed towards a younger consumer crowd in the roughly 18-30 y.o. age range. AA has sold a limited range of men's underwear for a while now with the primary item being this baby rib brief. One strength of this underwear item is the unbelievable range of colors with 30 different hues available for order online. The material is 100% cotton in a very fine rib that is of medium weight and reasonably soft although some spandex mixed in would really help the fit and the feel. The sizes seem to run about normal with the medium working out for a 32-34" waist. If you are a big fan of these briefs you should probably stop here as this review will only go downhill from here on out. First on my negatives is the cut which is really unflattering as a high-rise full-cut brief that feels dated and not very fashionable. The 1 1/4" elastic waistband feels very cheap and it's not the most comfortable with a lack of facing on the inside which is common on most underwear these days. The back of the waistband interior has a 1 1/2" wide by 1" tall wash/care tag heat-pressed which thankfully prevents any irritation. The front of this brief includes a functional double layer fly highlighted on the sides with 1/4" contrast white piping which is also on the legs. There is no pouch design in the front with a completely old-school flat pattern cut which was neither flattering nor particularly comfortable. The back of the brief had too much material in the cut which not only created an awkward fit but also simply didn't look good. | The Grades: |
| Fit: | D | Sure these are wearable as underwear but there are too many much better choices out there that understand how to fit underwear for a guy for me to give a free pass here. |
| Design: | C- | The classic white piping is a nice touch and the vast array of colors is great but the design is nothing to write home about otherwise and the waistband is really in need of improvement. |
| Material: | B- |
I wasn't overly impressed with the cotton rib for comfort but it served the garment well enough. |
| Construction: | C |
The construction was decent with mostly clean stitching but the fabric was very badly cut in some areas with excess material creeping out from seams in a couple of areas. |
| Overall Grade: | D |
Apologies to the fans of this brief but the fit is a big enough problem for me to impact the overall grade down to a very low "D" |
|
Would I buy another pair? No, even at a low price I can't see myself purchasing any more pairs of this underwear item. I really appreciate the labor practices AA works to embody and I wish the company all the best so I really hope they can make some improvements to their underwear line for men soon so I can give them a more positive review in the future. | ||
| Wear Recommendations: |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| All-day Wear | Loungewear | Athletic | Sleepwear | Office Wear | Special Occasion | Bedroom Wear |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
| Where To Buy: |
| Photos: |
I was always interested in getting some of these given the range of unusual colors and its simplicity in retro-design. But when I really considered it, I was only interested in the color and nothing else. Your review now confirms that I should not buy them. But have you ever considered that after wearing many comfortable well-fitting pairs of underwear, that an uncomfortable pair can feel extremely uncomfortable? Maybe that is what has happened to you here and nothing is wrong with that. Maybe you are holding the low priced AA brand up to the standards of more pricey brands, hence this bad review. In any case, you are in a position to make that judgment given that you have experienced wearing so many brands and believe it or not I think that makes you an underwear expert - a title that not many men can hold because they just do not have the experience of wearing many different brands. I am just thinking of the those who stick to one or a few brands and may think those are comfortable when in fact there may be other more comfortable brands. Thanks for our opening our eyes to the range of possibilities that exists when it comes to underwear style and comfort.
Reply to this
Hello William, thanks for being a continued long-time reader. You are right that in general, we can only know what is good or bad by comparison. Without the opportunity to feel a cotton blend versus a micro modal fabric for example, someone may assume cotton is the best material one can ever have for underwear. As you know I review a broad range of underwear including many low-priced department store brands and AA isn’t actually the least expensive pair I’ve reviewed or own. I liked the Hanes textures fabric line and they were $18 for a 4-pack and the Jockey Sport low rise briefs were a hit at $19.50 for a 2-pack. I am sure that to a certain degree AA pricing reflects their corporate policy of keeping manufacturing in the US so it’s not entirely fair to conduct across-the-board comparisons but at the end of the day if the underwear doesn’t feel right or fit right it’s not going to be worn. I agree the broad range of colors is a nice draw to the AA underwear line and I would never stop anyone from buying underwear they wanted to try out but I do feel there are better options at the same price point or even lower. I’m glad I was able to help inform your underwear purchasing process and thanks for the positive words!
Reply to this