Underwear Thesis: Cuup Underwear Review

Everything you've ever wanted to know about underwear from Cuup
UNDERWEAR THESIS: Cuup underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of Cuup underwear including the bikini, brief, and high waist underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

Welcome back to Underwear Thesis! Today’s highly scientific underwear review is all about Cuup, a brand that’s been requested a TON for this series. This brand is known for their great colors, minimalist modern aesthetic, and self-proclaimed innovation (especially for the Flexiwire underwire in their bras). Tons of people swear by Cuup’s bras, but what about their underwear? Let’s find out!

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

The Search for The Most Comfortable Underwear Brands Under $60! Join me as I shop for new underwear and talk about all of the features + how to buy underwear. As a former textile designer, I am sharing information about seams, stitching, chafing, underwear construction, the best fabric for underwear and more! Get all of this shopping advice + underwear brand reviews on jojotastic.com #underwear #panties #undies

My Search for The Most Comfortable Underwear

This post is an excellent starting point and lists out ALL of the criteria of this project, including:

  • Judging criteria
  • Commonly used terms
  • My size + body type details
  • and a lottt more

Read more

What to Look for When Shopping for Underwear, tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Information about the pros and cons of different types of fabric, trim, what is a gusset, and more!

What to Look for When Shopping for Underwear

Including:

  • Fabric and trim
  • Seams and stitching
  • Gusset
  • Size and fit
  • Washability

Read more

How to Care for Your Underwear So It Lasts Longer! recommended washing machine settings, retractible clothes line, delicates bag and detergent

How to Wash Underwear So It Lasts Longer

Including:

  • Delicates bag
  • Cold water + gentle cycle
  • Detergent
  • Fabric softener
  • And more!

Read more

UNDERWEAR THESIS: Cuup underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of Cuup underwear including the bikini, brief, and high waist underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

My Totally Unfiltered Review of Cuup Underwear

Please keep in mind that these are my personal opinions of the product. If you love Cuup 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

Fabric Quality + Details

Grade: B

I definitely preferred the underwear made with modal (which is a synthetic) because it was super-soft against the skin. The gusset in each pair is made of a bamboo blend that is supposedly wicking and antibacterial. Also it’s open at one end, which you know I appreciate! The fabric itself is really, really nice.

The mesh is my least favorite of the fabrics simply because there is a rather stiff trim applied to the edges of the waist and leg openings. Cuup calls it an “ultrasonic line bonding.” I found it to be too stiff and not really that comfortable, nor does it help the underwear to stay in place (which is a selling point they list)! The mesh itself is nice and lightweight, but it’s just not my jam for everyday wear.

The stitching on Cuup underwear is really interesting to me: there is a seam up the back of each pair. I suspect this is there to accentuate your butt’s silhouette. To me, it’s totally unnecessary and actually somewhat uncomfortable because there’s a bulky seam in my butt crack. COOL.

Manufacturing Quality

Grade: C-

Given how nice the fabrics are, I had high hopes for the construction of the underwear from Cuup. And was a bit disappointed, especially given the pricepoint for each pair. Not only did the underwear arrive with loose threads, the stitching on the highwaist style became loose after just one washing!

I know I’ve already complained about the butt crack stitching (as I love to refer to it), but I found it especially egregious after a few wearings. The intersection of that seam plus the stitching at the bottom of the waist band especially creates a weak point. This then pulls the fabric and creates a small hole which I imagine will only get worse with more and more wear.

Ethical Practices and Sustainability

Grade: D

I found absolutely no mention of any sustainability practices on their website, so that’s disappointing. Additionally, I have loads of questions about their factories yet no answers. I understand that their whole M.O. is innovative fabrics. However, it is very much possible to create innovative fabrics while also being sustainable and paying a fair living wage to those making the product.

UNDERWEAR THESIS: Cuup underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of Cuup underwear including the bikini, brief, and high waist underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

Inclusivity

Grade: C-

When it comes to inclusivity, I’m a bit confused. Their social channels show more of a range of skintones and sizes, but the product pages don’t. I found it incredibly difficult to figure out my size based on the product photos because it all looks to be the same model, yet each product page says “Molly is wearing a 6 (XL)” or something similar… yet the bodies all look the same. Then, when I continued scrolling down the page, there’s a “styling tip” listed which features a rail-thin white woman. None of those images were helpful in seeing how their styles would work on my body type! The ‘find my size’ feature of the site only applies to bras, so you’re left to rely on their standard issue size chart.

The only reason I didn’t give Cuup a D grade is because their size range goes from XS to XXXL, which to me, is the bare minimum a brand should offer.

UNDERWEAR THESIS: Cuup underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of Cuup underwear including the bikini, brief, and high waist underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

Washability

Grade: C

As I mentioned before, my very first washing loosed some seams which is shocking especially given that this is an $18 pair of underwear. Even my cheapy Auden undies didn’t do that! The mesh washed infinitely better and still looks brand new after a few washings. Meanwhile, the modal looks wrinkly and almost saggy.

Fit & Comfort

Grade: F

Sigh… I HAD SUCH HIGH HOPES… and then hated the fit of every single pair that I ordered. First of all, The Bikini was a hard no. I tried it on and immediately knew I would never wear them because they were so skimpy. I wanted to return them, but they are not returnable. I ended up washing the bikini panties and wore them for one day, all in the name of science. It was a very long day, full of wedgies.

The Tap was equally disappointing because it is considered their most full-coverage pair of underwear. I probably should have known I wouldn’t love it because the product description also mentioned that it’s a “cheeky” style, meaning that its highly likely my butt would hang out… and it does. Which then equals a quick trip to Wedgie City, my least favorite place.

The fit of The Highwaist was the least horrible, but still not great. The modal made the underwear floppy which I believe is a result of how lightweight the fabric is. The underwear did not stay in place, at all. And by the end of the day, the butt was saggy.

And lastly, my biggest complain about the fit of Cuup underwear is that the crotch is pretty narrow. I didn’t feel like I got the coverage I wanted — and I’m sure you can imagine how uncomfortable it is to get a wedgie in that region as well. Not great.

UNDERWEAR THESIS: Cuup underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of Cuup underwear including the bikini, brief, and high waist underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

Overall thoughts

Grade: D

As much as I enjoy how soft the modal is, I don’t think it’s the right material to use for panties. For a bra, yes. But I’m very curious to see how long any of these pairs last with regular wearing. As you can tell from the photos, they are already wonky, wrinkly, and worn looking! And I took these photos after having washed them once.

My advice? Save your money and buy something else from the other brands I recommend… I was NOT impressed with Cuup’s underwear, especially given how many people love their bras. I do love the handfeel of their fabrics and how soft they are. But at the end of the day, there is wayyy better that is also more affordable, more sustainably made, and more inclusive.

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

My unbiased and unfiltered review of ARQ underwear including the high-rise undies and wide-strap bralette! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

ARQ Underwear Review

When I first started this project, I posted to Instagram asking for recommendations of underwear you love… and if there was one overwhelming response, it was ARQ! So many people said that ARQ is their holy grail, most favorite underwear of all time… and WELL worth the higher price tag. So, naturally I needed to order a few pairs and work on an ARQ review! After a few months of washing, wearing, and generally being the picky nerd that I am, I’m finally ready to share my review. Let’s dig in!

Read more

My unbiased and unfiltered review of Patagonia underwear including the athletic underwear and bikini underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

Patagonia Underwear Review

For this series, I am pretty much exclusively focused on cotton and natural fiber underwear. But I received so many requests to review Patagonia underwear that I knew I had to include it in my Underwear Thesis! As a rock climber and avid hiker, having good athletic underwear is important to me. Plus, I’ve always been a fan of their sustainability efforts. So because of that (and a few more reasons I’ll get into), I made an exception. Let’s dig into the latest installment of Underwear Thesis: my Patagonia underwear review!

Read more

My unbiased and unfiltered review of Thunderpants underwear including the hipster and high-rise bikini underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

THUNDERPANTS UNDERWEAR REVIEW

Wow, it’s the last day of Underwear Thesis… where did the week go?? I hope you’re loving the reviews and learning a ton. As this series evolves, I want to incorporate more small businesses who are entering into the underwear game and today’s review is a great example. Today we’re breaking down the details of my full Thunderpants underwear review — this is my most requested brand to check out, btw!

Read more

My unbiased and unfiltered review of Pact underwear including the classic bikini underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

PACT UNDERWEAR REVIEW

Here’s the thing about reviewing different pairs of underwear: you can only get so creative with the photography! But seriously, I am running out of ways to photograph underwear. Anyways, this week’s Underwear Thesis review is all about Pact, an organic clothing company. I think they are most known for their super soft organic basics. They definitely have a loyal fanbase and I got tons of requests to try them out because I think a lot of people curious! So if you’re in that group, keep reading to get the full scoop of my Pact review.

Read more

My unbiased and unfiltered review of Parade underwear including the bikini and high-rise hipster underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

Parade Underwear Review

Ooooh boy. I have put off publishing this underwear review as long as I could, but it’s time. I need to put on my big girl panties (pun very much intended) and share my unfiltered review of Parade underwear. You might be wondering why I’ve put off this review for so long… and it’s because I was majorly disappointed. I probably should wait until the end of the post to say that, but I just needed to address the elephant in the room! Let’s dig into all of the details about why I did not like Parade’s underwear, shall we?

Read more

UNDERWEAR THESIS: Cuup underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of Cuup underwear including the bikini, brief, and high waist underwear! tips and tricks from a textile designer and fabric expert to help you be a more informed consumer and better shopper. Full review including washability, inclusivity, fit, sustainability and ethical practices.

What do you think of this Cuup underwear review?? Leave a comment and let me know!

Photography by Jojotastic.

Behind The Blog

Joanna Hawley-McBride is a Pacific Northwest-based social media strategist, content creator, and former textile designer. Joanna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Jojotastic, a lifestyle blog focused on Joanna’s work-in-progress cabin, finding the best pair of underwear through #UnderwearThesis, and empowering women to explore nature — all in her signature unfiltered style. Her work has been featured in Domino, CNBC, and Eating Well.

Let's stay in touch:

Shop my picks on Amazon

Shop now

Please note that I use affiliate links at times here, as well as on my social media accounts. This means that if you click on a link to a product and purchase that product, I may receive a commission based on your purchase. I only feature products that truly inspire me. Any products that have been gifted to Jojotastic for review are noted at the bottom of the post. Sponsored posts are noted as such. All opinions are my own and always will be! Thanks for supporting content that keeps Jojotastic going.

Leave a Comment