Alio Review

Alio Enterprises is a family owned company. They're specialty is a new, patent-pending, men's underwear design. The special part of their design that is patent-pending is what they call "the pocket". Basically it is a special, one-size-fits-all, deal that is designed to support and separate all parts of your manhood from your legs. The theory behind this is it will prevent uncomfortable sticking and pinching that can often occur in regular underwear (especially on hot days or when doing strenuous jobs) and it will allow you to go all day without adjusting. In fact this pouch is designed in such a way so that your member is always held behind the fly for easy access while on the job.

Their underwear comes in two different designs, the full-cut brief, and the boxer brief. And each design comes in two colors, navy and classic white. I had the opportunity to try one of each style in two different colors (a white full-cut brief and a navy boxerbrief). For the purpose of this review I am just going to talk about the full-cut brief.

I'm going to do this review in a slightly different order than normal because this way will make more sense, so just work with me.

My first impression upon opening the box is that there is was a lot of fabric. This was just from the looks, no trying on. I guess I may be a little used to my small (somewhat skimpy) fashion underwear. I really wasn't quite sure if the underwear would fit me tightly, I thought it might be a little saggy or loose.

Well I was mistaken about that. I tried both the boxerbrief and full-cut brief on. They covered more skin than I am accustomed to, but they did fit tightly. Now the next task was figuring out how exactly to use them. They are pretty self-explanatory, there is a "pocket" of sorts on the inside and you simply insert shaft and testicles into it while you put on the underwear. Sounds simple enough, but if you can't figure that out on your own they provide you with an instruction sheet just in case. Well this simple task actually proved to be a lot more complicated than it should be. Yes I could get everything into the pocket, but everything just kept coming out. Or at least everything felt like it was coming out. It actually held most everything in place nicely, but it just felt as if it was not held in place correctly and thus I would continually keep checking things (and the purpose of this underwear was to allow you to go about your life comfortably without checking or adjusting things). I think part of the problem is the "pocket's" placement. It really is not a one-size-fits-all-pocket. The pocket design I think is generally fine, but it is placed much too low on the inside of the underwear. The problem for me was that my testicles didn't completely fit into the pocket if I had the waist at normal level. I could manage to get everything in comfortably if I brought the waistband up to about my navel, but who wants to wear their underwear that high? I can tell that is not the way they are supposed to fit based on the model photos on the website. Anyway, I really wanted this product to work and be a great success for me, but it really wasn't (they just weren't incredibly comfortable). I could wear them comfortably without using the pocket, but that sort of defeats the purpose. I know there have been many people who are in fact very comfortable in these (they have many testimonials on their site, and in fact some people posted testimonials for this product on this post of mine), but unlike what they claim, this is not a one-size-fits-all deal. It should be, but some design changes need to be made before it comfortably fits on every man. Also, as I mentioned a little earlier, they cover a lot of skin. I'd like to go back to that point. What I mean by this is that their "full-rise brief" fits more like a standard boxerbrief, and their "boxer brief" fits more like a sliding short. When I say this I am basing it on the length of the legs. I know this is not just me because that appears to also be the case in the model in their promotional photos. This is not a problem, it is just something that you should be aware of when making your buying decisions.

The style of these briefs is fairly classic. They have a fashionable, printed, 1.5", logo waistband with the word "Alio" around the top. I really like the contrast of the white waistband against the navy body (on the navy ones). I've heard some complaints about there being two seams on the back instead of one, but personally that is not a problem and I like the way it adds a little unexpected to the classic. Also these briefs are made out of fairly thick fabric, at first I wasn't sure that I liked this, but now I've decided it is fine and is actually quite soft and comfortable. Also another first impression that I was wrong about was the leg-bands. At first I found them to be too tight, but I think that is just because they were new. After the bands stretched out a bit they were quite comfortable and held the long legs in place quite well (which is often an issue with long-legged underwear).

Really, my only problems with these briefs are all related to the front area:
-The "pocket" really is not one-size-fits-all and does not quite fit me right (and others have complained of this as well). Fix is to move the pocket up a bit.
-The fly doesn't quite look right (see photo) when it is filled out (I noticed this in their promotional photos as well), perhaps a larger overlap would help.
-Also the fly area is see-through in places on the white version, more overlap would help.

However, a plus to the fly (and pocket) is that because of the pocket everything is easily accessible and no fumbling or searching is necessary at the urinal.

The quality of these are quite good, they are made of great, comfy fabric. The only reason the quality is graded down in my review is because of the issues with the fly area (see above) and the fit.

The value of these briefs are great. All styles and colors are only $14.95 + shipping. And the best part about the value of these briefs is that if you are not 100% satisfied you can get your money back in 30 days. So I would encourage you to try them and see if you like them. Even if you don't like the pocket it is still a pretty good value for just a pair of underpants. You will probably have a different opinion than I do. If you try these out and you really like them I'd welcome you to write your review of them on this blog (send me an email).

MY RATING:
Overall, I give the Alio full-cut briefs a total score of 7 based on the following criteria:
FIT -- 7 (out of 10)
COMFORT -- 6 (out of 10)
STYLE -- 10 (out of 10)
QUALITY -- 9 (out of 10)
VALUE -- 9 (out of 10)

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