Underwear Thesis: KENT Underwear Review

Everything you've ever wanted to know about underwear from KENT
UNDERWEAR THESIS: KENT underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of KENT underwear including the bikini brief and high waist brief 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.

A big part of why I started the Underwear Thesis is to hopefully more sustainably made options that I love even more than the fast fashion undies I’ve worn in the past. A few people requested that I look into KENT, a brand that touts plastic-free underwear that is made of 100% organic cotton. I was extra excited to check them out because finding panties that are entirely made of cotton is surprisingly rare! Here’s my full KENT underwear review.

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: KENT underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of KENT underwear including the bikini brief and high waist brief 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 KENT Underwear

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

KENT uses 100% GOTS certified organic Pima cotton that is synthetic free. That means there is literally no plastic in their fabric, so it’s important to keep in mind that these panties will stretch differently than underwear with a synthetic component. The fabric is a knit, so there’s a small amount of stretch, but not much. I was so excited to finally find a plastic-free pair of underwear though!

I gave them a B+ for fabric because it isn’t that soft, despite the product description. I suspect that is because they aren’t using at softeners or washes on the final product which is a common way for companies to soften cheaper fabrics (sometimes it’s even a coating that washes away). However, KENT has such a strong focus on sustainability that they don’t use petrochemicals, thus making the handfeel less soft.

The underwear is tagless, which I love. The gusset is stitched down on both sides which isn’t my favorite for washability. But overall, the quality is superb.

UNDERWEAR THESIS: KENT underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of KENT underwear including the bikini brief and high waist brief 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.

Manufacturing Quality

Grade: A

Both styles of underwear are exceptionally well-made! A great example of that is the stitching at the waist and leg openings. Because the underwear is made of 100% cotton, I full on expected the stitching to not be stretchy… but it actually is and it’s quite stretchy! KENT did a great job of using a type of stitching at the waist and leg opening that gives stretch.

Ethical Practices and Sustainability

Grade: A+

By far, KENT is the most sustainable brand I’ve reviewed in this entire project. They are doing SO much including:

  • Ethnically making each pair of underwear in California by offering living wages and in a factory with recycling practices
  • Recyclable and compostable packaging — even the underwear is compostable and “will return to soil in only 90 days”
  • Fully synthetic free — no microplastics, phthalates, petrochemicals, pesticides

The underwear is made of Pima cotton because it is more sustainable that other types of cotton. For example, Pima cotton uses 87% less water and creates 45% less CO2 than conventional cotton (source). There is actually a TON of documentation on KENT’s site about all the ways they’ve considered the environmental impact of their product. It’s incredible.

UNDERWEAR THESIS: KENT underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of KENT underwear including the bikini brief and high waist brief 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: B+

It’s clear to me that being more inclusive is a value that KENT is actively aligned with. Between me ordering my underwear and the writing of this post, they expanded the size range to go from sizes XS to 3XL which is a great start.

I docked them a letter grade because the product photos aren’t especially indicative of this effort, unfortunately. I would have loved to see the fit on different body types while shopping the product specifically, so hopefully they make that change soon.

Washability

Grade: A

Both pairs have washed very well and kept their shapes! Keep in mind that I don’t recommend putting underwear in the dryer ever.

Fit & Comfort

Grade: C

I wanted to love them sooooo badly, but the fit is just not what I’m looking for. I felt like the waist and leg openings fit well and I had good coverage on my butt. But in the front, there was an excess of baggy fabric which was surprising. I will say that the bikini brief fit WAY better than the high-waist style. But I still found the fit to be super unflattering because of the bagginess in the front.

UNDERWEAR THESIS: KENT underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of KENT underwear including the bikini brief and high waist brief 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: B-

It was so incredibly hard to come up with an overall grade for KENT underwear. I love love love their sustainability measures and how well the underwear is made. That is such a big deal to me… but at the end of the day I want two things: a great fit and comfort. And unfortunately I didn’t get either from KENT.

The stitching at the leg openings and waist are quite bulky and I suspect that’s the case to avoid using an elastic type of thread. I found that the stitching dug in and was pretty uncomfortable.

As for the fabric… I wish it was softer. There, I said it. I know they are avoiding softeners to maintain their commitment to sustainability, but there has to be something else they can do! The underwear feels like a thick t-shirt that has never been washed before. And that isn’t the vibe I want for my delicate bits, ya know? KENT’s underwear lacked the comfort level that I prefer.

Here’s the thing though: I still wear them. These styles aren’t the ones I reach for first, but they also aren’t the ones leftover on laundry day.

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!

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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: KENT underwear review. My unbiased and unfiltered review of KENT underwear including the bikini brief and high waist brief 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 KENT 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.

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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.

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