Do you wear underwear with compression pants?

Did you feel silly even searching “are you supposed to wear underwear with compression pants?" It’s okay if you did. We won’t judge you.

Sometimes, you need a search engine or blog post to tell you the answer to a question you’re too scared or embarrassed to ask anyone. That’s okay! That’s why we’re here for you.

As the designers of the original knee stabilizing compression pants, we feel uniquely qualified to answer this question and put your mind at ease. And besides, there’s really no need to be embarrassed about such a practical concern.

So: do you wear underwear with compression pants?

The short answer is: if you want to! No one can stop you from going commando if that’s what feels good to you. However, for hygienic reasons, we highly recommend wearing underwear with compression leggings.

Of course, the primary function of underwear is to keep your outer garments from getting dirty from various bodily fluids – and vice versa! This is why we highly recommend choosing to wear underwear with your compression pants.

Underwear has a very fascinating history, certainly worth a deep (or Wikipedia) dive! Human beings started with loincloths to keep the important bits covered and protected, and over time underwear evolved to be more comprehensive and cover more of the body. Then, around the mid-late 20th century, underwear styles began to sway towards a  “less is more” ideology. Preferences for underwear design varies from person to person, and culturally it varies vastly by region and across many demographics, so take this summary for what it is – simply a brief summary.

There are plenty of other reasons for certain underwear designs, usually ranging from modesty to the lack of it. There are also many religious groups whose members are required to wear certain types of undergarments. Perhaps most well-known to North Americans is the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are required to wear certain “Temple garments” for ceremonies. 

Women’s Underwear to Wear with Compression Pants

Potential underwear choices for women who wear compression garments are pretty straightforward. The rise of athleisure culture firmly solidified the prevalence of thong and g-string style underwear for women. If you are unfamiliar, these garments are made of a thin fabric which completely covers the genitals, but tapers off to a narrow band of fabric or elastic as it travels under the pelvis and towards the backside. The intended effect of these types of underwear is to minimize bulk and the appearance of lines on the wearer’s rear-end. If you didn’t know, it’s socially unacceptable to have the lines of your underwear showing from underneath your clothes to many people in the western world. Just FYI!

And that’s not to say men can’t wear underwear in this style! After all, look at the jock strap! The “thong” style is certainly available to men, should they choose it. Again, we won’t judge you! This is a safe space where all underwear choices are accepted and celebrated. (However, we feel we must stress again the crucial point that underwear exists mostly for hygiene purposes!)

Men’s Underwear to Wear with Compression Pants

We find that we get the question of “do you wear underwear with compression pants?” mostly from men. Especially men who are perhaps new to the compression tight game. And we get it – while women’s underwear adapted long ago to fit seamlessly with tight spandex athletic garments, men’s underwear has yet to catch up. From the braies to the codpiece, to modern day Calvin Klein and beyond… Men’s underwear has made quite a journey. And yet, most designs of men’s underwear are bulky and don’t layer particularly well with tight, form fitting clothing.

To get a tad philosophical, perhaps the reason the question of if one should wear underwear with compression pants stems from the outdated belief that leggings are for women and not men. To this day, there is an active community on Quora to “teach” men how to wear leggings “properly” called “Men CAN wear leggings!” Sometimes, brands or influencers who promote men’s leggings refer to them as “meggings,” an attempt to reframe a clothing option considered to be socially unacceptable. 

But the reality is that many men wear leggings – even three years ago, Men’s Health magazine was encouraging readers to rock their leggings! It seems like everyone wants to wear leggings, and why wouldn’t they? Especially compression leggings, which have many proven health and performance benefits! Basically, gents, you can and should wear leggings if you want to. It’s 2024! Nobody thinks your compression pants are weird anymore. Just like eggs for breakfast, you’re weird for thinking they're weird.

Anyway, what underwear should you wear with compression pants? If you want to wear some, and we don’t want to tell you what to do, but we think the best underwear to layer with compression pants (such as Bracelayer’s knee compression pants) would likely be a pair of thin briefs. There are many different brands of men’s underwear that make thin, breathable, and moisture wicking briefs, which would all be a great option. The brief style would prevent the rolling and bunching that may occur when longer boxer-style underwear are layered underneath compression pants. If you’re unsure of where to even start looking for your perfect underwear to wear with compression pants, perhaps start with this listicle by Esquire of the 13 Best Pairs of Underwear for Men, Tested & Reviewed.

So, TL;DR…

Do you wear underwear with compression pants? If you want!

Should you wear underwear with compression pants? Probably!

We hope this helps!

(Some men prefer to wear shorts over their compression pants -- Men's Health has encouraged men to rock their tight compression leggings, and we do too! But we also encourage you to wear shorts over your compression pants if that's what makes you most comfortable!)