I have recently purchased a new pair of underwear from a company called CALIDA BODYWEAR at Sierra Trading Post. The company is based in Switzerland, and out of all the u
nderwear bounty made available by the WWW, that fact is what intrigued me enough to buy from them. (of course since they were discounted 52%, I was more willing to fork over $9.95) The styles available are classically European. The pair I purchased is a full cut “slip,” what we would call a sport brief or bikini brief. The garment is well made out of 100% jersey cotton, and it has a slight pouch design in the front, which is double-lined. The light blue color with thin multicolored vertical stripes is great too. (I am especially partial to stripes) The fit for this brief is, of course, classic as well, full bottom, full rise, and a flattening effect to the front. This may seem like a contradiction to what I mentioned about the front shape, but nevertheless that is the effect. How well it fits is a matter of preference. It does exactly as it is designed to do; I just feel that it’s a dated look. It’s possible that the fabric will relax after several wears since it is 100% cotton.If you are looking to buy from sierratradingpost.com, (where the sale is) be advised that there is a bit of miss-information. On the site they have posted that the fabric is a blend; it is not. They also have the sizing all wrong. I bought a size small, which they listed as 30in. The size chart on the package itself lists USA sizes S = 36, M = 38/40, L = 42/44, XL = 46, XXL = 48. Obviously the sizing runs quite large. I’m very glad I didn’t buy the medium, and as it is the small is almost too big. Plan accordingly.
MY RATING:
Overall, I give the Calida brief a total score of 8 based on the following criteria:
FIT -- 6.5 (out of 10)
COMFORT -- 9 (out of 10)
STYLE -- 8.5 (out of 10) (the stripes are cool)
QUALITY -- 9.5 (out of 10)
VALUE -- 5.5 (out of 10) (there is no need to spend the $21 retail price)
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An aside from UMan: I also really like the look of this trunk from Calida.
