Fullest of full-cut girls' briefs?

May 30, 2011 11:12 AM

Where can I find very full-cut little girls' briefs?

I am having trouble finding briefs that are truly full-cut for my almost-3-year-old daughter. I've tried Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, and Carter's. Though they're all marked "full brief" or "classic brief," they're quite a bit higher on the leg and lower in the waist than I remember from my girlhood, and whenever I undress her they've practically disappeared.

I figured as long as she didn't mind, I didn't mind, but now I think she's uncomfortable in them, because over the last couple of weeks she's taken to wearing her brother's underpants instead, which fit well in terms of coverage. But I figure the extra bulk in front has to be less comfortable than if she had a fuller-cut girls' brief. (Maybe I'm wrong about this, though, and should just buy her boys' briefs.)

I'd really like to find the granniest of the granny panties for little girls.

posted by palliser to clothing, beauty, & fashion (11 answers total)

I think Hanna Andersson classic unders might do the trick. Not cheap, but they do last forever.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 11:19 AM on May 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

You might look into Vermont Country Store, they have the real good ol' granny panties...
posted by The otter lady at 11:24 AM on May 30, 2011

I don't have a brand for you, but as a datapoint, my now-eight-year-old daughter sometimes prefers to wear boys underwear, usually boxer briefs. This has been going on since she was about three, and she goes through phases of wanting to wear boys unders every day and then not wanting to even look at them for a while. She currently has about half a dozen pairs of boxer briefs and three or fours pairs of regular briefs kicking around, and sometimes she just likes them better, especially, it seems, when it's hot out. She's had several pairs of boys briefs that she liked, as well, and the extra fabric has never been problematic. (Okay, well, one time she decided that the pouch would be a good pocket and stored Bakugan cards there. But other than that, it hasn't been problematic.)

I don't know that you're going to have a whole lot of luck with full-cut briefs--it seems that even granny panties are less grannyish than they were fifteen years ago. You may want to give hipster or "boy short" style underwear a try, though--while the waists are almost certainly lower than what you'll remember wearing as a child, the leg holes are low enough on the hip/bum that they don't ride up as much as the briefs do. They've become my default underwear purchase for my daughter, and seem to hit the trifecta of not up in her butt crack, not hanging out of her pants, and coverage.
posted by MeghanC at 11:43 AM on May 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

My girl wears boy briefs all the time as it seems they don't make the super cool Thomas the Train or Super Why undies in a girl style. The extra fabric has not been a problem. I agree though, it's crazy that it's impossible to find panties for 2 yr olds that actually cover both little buns. Crazy.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 12:12 PM on May 30, 2011

Oh! I also occasionally bought my daugher the Hanes and Fruit of the Loom full-cut briefs in one size larger. That covered both buns.

Don't get me started on how they stick out the top of her pants since it is so freaking difficult to find little girls pants over a size 6 that aren't low rise ...
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 12:19 PM on May 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Have you tried boy-cut or boy short style girls panties? My daughter loves that style and the wedgie factor greatly diminishes.
posted by TooFewShoes at 1:44 PM on May 30, 2011

Surely the extra fabric involved in little-boy-undies is fairly minimal? If you can't find "boy short" cut panties, I would say buy her boys knickers, it ain't no thing. Actually clicked in to check the first link above and their boys underwear looks to lie totally flat.
posted by Iteki at 2:56 PM on May 30, 2011

Lands' End was making some superbly bum-covering little girls' underpants, but they seem to not be in stock at the moment. They were only from size 4 up, but a 4 on the smaller side. Worth checking for later, as the cut was fabulous. (And their girls' pants are not low rise! Quite dependably little-girl-cut little girl stuff. Also a "slim fit" from 4+, lifesaving!)

Both my daughter and I (small-bummed) wear Marks and Spencers "shorts" which are crazy comfortable thanks to good cotton and no elastic around the legs. They are pretty granny in cut, but no elastic around the legs = not ideal for little girls wearing skirts. For that I bought some boxer briefs from Polarn O Pyret; also check out their girls briefs which look very promising but with which I have no first-hand experience. The boxers are nice, though, and the excess fabric is really pretty minimal.

This is a topic rather dear to me; when I was little (1970s Canada) it was suspected, by the people who thought about these things for me, that North Americans did not pay sufficient attention to little girls' underthings, and I got a parcel of cotton from England a couple of times a year. This seemed a lovely thought but a bit much until my own kid ditched the diapers and now I understand; I went to every department store around and was disgusted by the scratchy-trimmed super-thin gaudy-print adultish-cut stuff, and the Baby Gap stuff was a bit better made but still scandalously cut. So, this generation continues the mail-order tradition. M&S sometimes has shipping specials for international customers near Xmas and I get us a big box of underthings every November. The stuff being passed off as panties in Sears etc is hopeless -- it's not just you.
posted by kmennie at 4:52 PM on May 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

2nding Hanna Andersson. They're the 1970s Volvo of underpants: sorta boxy but good.
posted by apparently at 6:27 PM on May 30, 2011

So silly of me to have saved my teddy bear and books for future progeny when I should have been saving my underpants!

Hanna Andersson looks very good, will try those. Thanks, all!
posted by palliser at 7:51 PM on May 30, 2011

I just noticed that Decent Exposures makes cotton underpants in sizes as small as a kid's size 4, and some of the options are very full-coverage, with many choices of fabrics. Not cheap, though, at $11 a pair.

I'm still very disappointed that Land's End quit selling adult women's underwear.
posted by artistic verisimilitude at 5:34 AM on May 31, 2011