Buying underwear online means putting a stranger in charge of your private affairs.
In this case, I’m the stranger.
I can tell you about the fabric, the waistband and all the little decisions that went into making Debriefs. I’m happy to. You may have trouble getting me to stop.
But you’re still looking at a screen. You haven’t worn them, and I’m asking you to spend your money on something you’ll be sitting in all day.
Then, if you don’t like them, what happens?
With plenty of other clothes, you send them back. Underwear is a different proposition. Once you’ve opened or worn a pair, we can’t accept them back to sell to someone else.
Which I imagine you’re quite pleased about when you’re the someone else. Less helpful when you’re the bloke who’s just bought a pair that doesn’t suit him.
That was something we needed to sort out before Debriefs launched. I wanted people to give us a go, and I didn’t think “trust me, they’re comfortable” was quite enough reassurance. Every underwear brand thinks its underwear is comfortable. Nobody’s advertising a waistband that’ll cut you in half by lunchtime.
You need to find out for yourself, and a quick try-on doesn’t always do it. The waistband might feel right, everything might look good in the mirror, and then a few hours later the legs are halfway up your thighs.
Now you’ve got uncomfortable underwear and you’ve worn it. Congratulations, it’s yours.
I wasn’t happy with that arrangement, so we offered the First Pair Guarantee from day one. If your first pair isn’t right for fit or comfort, contact us within 30 days. We can refund that pair in full or send a replacement.
You keep the pair. We cop the cost.
A few customers have offered to post their worn underwear back over the years. Very few, thankfully. I understand the offer, but please hang on to them. There’s nothing useful I can do with your used undies arriving in the mail.
Those requests didn’t create the guarantee. They just reinforced why we needed it.
The waist isn’t the whole bloke
I was confident in the product when we launched, and I still am. Very few customers claim the guarantee because they simply don’t like the underwear.
More often, there’s something about the size or style that isn’t working for them, which gives me a chance to have a chat.
If you bought trunks and they’re riding up, for example, boxer briefs might suit you better. The longer leg reaches further down your thigh, giving it more coverage and a different place to hug.
But I’ve also learnt to be careful about jumping straight to “try a smaller size”.
It sounds logical. Fabric moving around? Tighten it up.
Except your waist measurement tells me precisely nothing about how much time you spend doing squats.
Two blokes can have a 32-inch waist and very different thighs. One has plenty of room in the leg opening, while the other has the fabric hanging on for dear life.
On some legs, that tighter fit can gradually creep upwards with movement, like a caterpillar. A little crawl here, a little crawl there, until you’re pulling the bloody thing down again. Making it tighter can make that worse.
Sometimes the answer is to go up a size. Give the thigh a bit of breathing room and the leg can sit more comfortably.
That won’t be the answer for everyone, either. Bodies are annoyingly unwilling to follow one neat size chart.
But it’s the kind of thing I get to understand by talking to the person wearing the pair. “They ride up” is the start of that conversation. From there we can work out whether a different size or style might help.
And those details stay useful long after we’ve sorted out that customer’s order. They inform what I consider when we develop products and order new stock. I can wear samples myself, but I’ve only got the one body to test them on.
Yes, a few people try their luck
Of course they do. Offer to refund something without asking for it back and occasionally someone will see an opportunity.
Sometimes, as we ask a few questions to understand what’s wrong, it becomes pretty clear that a free pair of undies was the attraction all along. There’s a limit to how much a different leg length is going to help with that.
We’ve tightened the policy over the years because of those experiences, and occasionally we do say no. I want to give someone the confidence to try us, and I’m happy to cover the cost when the fit or comfort isn’t right. That still leaves room to use some judgment about a request.
But it’s a small part of what happens, and I’m not especially worried about it. A few people trying their luck hasn’t changed why I wanted to offer the guarantee in the first place.
I’m much more interested in the customer who’s bought a pair, wants them to work and is having a problem. Often we can help with a bit more room in the leg, a different cut, or a size that suits them better than the one they’re used to buying.
If they’d rather have a refund, that’s fine too. I’m confident in the underwear, but I don’t get to tell someone else what feels comfortable against their own balls.