Underwear Thesis: EBY Underwear Review

Ahhh welcome back to Underwear Thesis! I’m so excited to dig into even MORE highly scientific underwear reviews in my perpetual quest to find the most comfortable pair of everyday undies. Today’s review features a brand that quite a few of my Instagram followers recommended, EBY (which stands for Empowered By You). This post breaks down their soft seamless fabric, whether the No-Slip Nylon Grip actually does it’s job, and my overall grade for panties from EBY. I hope you find it helpful!

P.S. Last September, I mentioned wanting to share underwear thesis twice a year with 5 reviews in one week. Because of how much effort I put into each review, that idea isn’t sustainable and I’ve had to make changes yet again. Going forward, Underwear Thesis reviews will be sprinkled in amongst the rest of my blog content. I hope you’ll understand and continue to enjoy the series!

If you’re new to my Underwear Thesis, I encourage you to read these posts before proceeding:

My Totally Unfiltered Review of EBY Underwear

Please keep in mind that these are my personal opinions of the product. If you love EBY underwear, that’s great! I applaud you! But if you’re on the fence about whether to buy them or not, this is what I think you need to know in order to be an informed consumer.

Styles Tried and Price

• Leopard highwaisted, size medium – $16
• Rich mocha brief, size medium – $15
• Umber bikini, size medium – $15
• Denim cotton bikini, medium – $15

Fabric Quality + Details

Grade: A for seamless, C- for cotton blend

The seamless fabric that EBY uses is soooooo nice. I immediately loved it as soon as I unboxed them. The fabrics are a synthetic mix, containing nylon and spandex, but with a cotton lining. The fabric is incredibly soft and smooth, probably the nicest seamless fabric I’ve ever experienced. It’s SO good.

But the most unique aspect of EBY’s underwear is that they have No-Slip Nylon Grip on the edges of each pair. They even guarantee that their seamless panties won’t give you VPL (visible panty lines).

When I first tried on my EBY underwear (I started with the highwaisted style), I was a bit skeptical. I’ve never been a fan of seamless fabric because historically that meant rolled edges, lots of movement of the panty itself, and wedgies galore. While I won’t say that EBY’s grippy edge is 100% unmovable, it is way better than I was expecting! I love that it isn’t actual grippy silicone like other brands often do. Instead, it feels more like a soft velveteen. And I don’t notice it while wearing the underwear.

As you’ll remember, I am most interested in underwear with a high percentage of cotton, so again I was hesitant to try these. But I’m really glad that I did, especially given that the gusset is cotton thankfully. I did try another pair that has 47% cotton and they aren’t quite as smooth as the synthetic ones. The cotton blend panties provide more breathability and are more likely to bounce back to their original shape instead of getting baggy and saggy over time.

That being said, the cotton styles were my least favorite of the bunch. I didn’t like the bonded seams and wish that this style also had the No-Slip Nylon Grip. Being blunt, the cotton blend panty was a one way ticket to Wedgie Town, USA.

Manufacturing Quality

Grade: B

Given the price point, I feel like all 4 styles that I tried from EBY are extremely well-made. The binding that they use for the No-Slip Nylon Grip is neatly applied, as is the cotton liner on the gusset. They also have very sleek and low profile seams on the sides that are well-made, too. I would put the seams on the same level as some of my high end outdoor apparel; it’s that well done.

I do have a few questions about the fabrication of the cotton panties. The biggest question I have is about the edges of the leg openings. There is no stitching there which is great for minimizing VPL. But I wonder about the knit fraying over time, especially because this style does not have the grippy edge.

I gave EBY a B in this section because I don’t like that the cotton gusset is adhered to the underwear crotch. I prefer the gusset to be open at least on one side for breathability and to ensure it’s fully cleaned during washing. I also wonder if there is the potential for irritants if a glue is used to adhere the cotton gusset.

Ethical Practices and Sustainability

Grade: C

10% of proceeds from each panty sold is used to “empower a woman into business and out of poverty” according to their website. I love how seriously EBY takes women’s empowerment thanks to programs that offer English classes, leadership development, maternal health clinics and awareness on the prevention of violence against women. There’s a lot of documentation about that on their site, including specific examples of helping women start businesses.

That being said.. I wish there was more of a focus on using sustainable fabrics. I couldn’t find ANY mention of if their materials are organic which is sort of a big deal to me. At the very least, using recycled materials would be great given that synthetics are essentially plastics.

Also prioritizes ethical manufacturing and “routine and rigorous on-site quality control.” But when I dug through the website for more info about what that actually means, I couldn’t find much. I’d love more documentation as to what this really means.

Inclusivity

Grade: B

The sizing goes from XS up to 4X which is one of the broader size ranges I’ve seen while doing thesis underwear reviews. EBY also uses models from a broader range of skintones, which I appreciate. I gave them a B because the main product images predominantly feature skinny, white-ish women. It would be so much better if there were more product photos on a variety of bodies — especially for a company that says it’s “made for every body” and has a “100% fit guarantee.”

When there are different body types shown, it’s toward the bottom of the page and the views aren’t always helpful. How can they guarantee I’m buying the right size if I don’t see my body type represented??

Washability

Grade: B

EBY underwear is definitely the kind you must air dry. The heat from your dryer will eat away at the synthetics which can lead to the panties falling apart and becoming misshapen. After washing mine consistently for about a month, I’m pleased with how they look for the most part. They are rather wrinkly, but once they are on, that isn’t really an issue to me. But yeah, they do get wrinkly, ask you can see from the photos.

Fit & Comfort

Grade:

• Leopard highwaisted: A-
• Rich mocha brief: A
• Umber seamless bikini: C
• Denim cotton bikini: D

If you’re an Underwear Thesis devotee, you might know that this is the part of the review where things get real… which is why I gave each style a different grade! The highwaisted cut felt like it was holding me in, but not too tightly and it hit in all the right spots. I found the leg opening to be cut higher than my ARQ underwear, but didn’t mind. My biggest complaint is that I wish the butt had more coverage. I would not consider them to be full coverage, despite what the sales copy says.

The brief cut is my favorite of the 4 styles I tried. It provided the coverage I wanted in the fabric I love and simply stayed in place the best.

The other 2 styles simply didn’t offer enough coverage. The fit of the seamless bikini style was uncomfortable and were most prone to giving me wedgies unfortunately. I’ll be keeping them in my drawer for laundry days because I love the fabric so much, but they aren’t my go-to.

And lastly, there are was something different about the fit of the cotton bikini that I couldn’t quite put my finger on… it was my least favorite of all the fits and I will probably never wear them again. They felt skimpy and very uncomfortable.

Overall thoughts

Grade: B

I wanted to love EBY soooo much, especially because the seamless fabric is so lovely. I’m not sure that I’ll be buying any additional styles from them, though, because the fit just isn’t good enough for me — especially given the other styles I’ve tried and loved. That being said, I am definitely keen to try their bralettes which are made of the same seamless material.

Ready for even more Underwear Thesis reviews?? Catch up on my previous reviews:

Photography by Jojotastic.