Field test and review
When it comes to hiking gear, most people put their thought into hiking boots, backpacks and clothing, and underwear barely gets a look in. I was recently contacted by WAMA Underwear and asked if I’d be keen to test out their gear. I’m always keen to see how different fabrics perform, so they sent me a couple of pairs of their organic cotton and hemp underwear to try. Don’t worry, I won’t be sharing any pics of me wearing them.
The first question I asked was why hemp. According to WAMA, hemp fabric is naturally anti-bacterial, with anti-odour properties, and it’s meant to be breathable and get softer with every wash. It’s organic and eco-friendly too. That’s the pitch, at least, so here’s how the WAMA men’s boxer briefs actually performed.
Hemp fabric itself has been used for centuries because it’s tough. For hiking underwear that matters, since it needs to handle constant movement, friction and stretching without losing its shape or breaking down. I’ve only had this underwear a few weeks and worn it several times, so I can’t speak to long-term durability yet. I’ll update this once I’ve had it through a few months of proper wear.
Hiking is physically demanding, and hemp’s other selling point is that it wicks moisture well. It’s getting close to winter here in Victoria, so the days I tested it weren’t particularly hot, but I picked a few steep, challenging hikes to work up a proper sweat. The WAMA blend is 53% hemp, 44% organic cotton and 3% spandex, and cotton on its own doesn’t wick moisture well, so I expected the blend to underperform. It didn’t: I found it drew sweat away about as well as the merino underwear I already own.
Breathability held up too. The boxer briefs are soft, flexible and comfortable, not too tight or too loose, with enough room to move without ever feeling baggy, and I didn’t notice any overheating or unpleasant odours from bacterial build-up over the days I wore them.
I don’t have sensitive skin or allergies, but I have had chafing before on hikes wearing stock-standard, non-hiking underwear. These felt a bit stiff for the first couple of hikes, which is a known trait of hemp fabric, but they softened considerably after washing and repeat wear, and I haven’t had any chafing since.
The sustainability case for hemp is part of why WAMA uses it: it’s a highly sustainable crop that needs minimal water, pesticides and herbicides to grow, and it grows quickly. The blend again is 53% hemp, 44% organic cotton and 3% spandex, so it’s not pure hemp, but the hemp content is doing most of the work described above.
On durability and longevity, hemp fibres are meant to resist pilling, stretching and fading better than most fabrics. My merino underwear tends to lose its shape after a few months of wear, so I’ll be interested to see whether this holds up better over time. As above, I’ve only worn the WAMA underwear a handful of times so far, so that verdict will have to wait.
How does hemp compare to merino?
Hemp and Merino wool are the two natural fibres you’ll most often see pitched for hiking underwear, and they land in different places depending on what matters most to you. Merino is the benchmark for moisture-wicking, it can absorb up to 30% of its weight in moisture without feeling wet, and it also has the edge on temperature regulation in cold conditions because of how it insulates. Hemp is still breathable and wicks moisture well, which is why I found it comparable to my merino gear on hot, sweaty climbs, but it doesn’t provide as much warmth as merino once conditions get properly cold. Merino also wins on softness straight out of the packet, hemp starts out a bit rougher and stiffer and needs a few washes to soften, which is exactly what I found with the WAMA underwear. Both fabrics hold up well to repeated wear. Where hemp has the edge is sustainability, it needs far less water, fewer pesticides and less herbicide to grow, whereas merino’s environmental footprint depends heavily on how the wool is farmed. One extra thing worth knowing if you’re ordering WAMA gear into Australia: they’re based in the US, but delivery was still quicker for me than a standard Australia Post parcel.
Hemp underwear isn’t something most hikers think about, but on this evidence it’s worth considering. It wicked moisture about as well as the merino underwear I already own, held up fine on steep, sweaty hikes, and hasn’t caused any chafing once it softened up. Whether it holds its shape as well as my merino gear over the long run, I can’t say yet, I’ve only worn the WAMA pairs a handful of times, so that’s a verdict I’ll have to come back to once I’ve put more kilometres through them.
