Men's Fitness Online

If you have a website like this one, people send you stuff, hoping you’ll write about it and improve their grass-roots SEO. Sometimes we will. Not for money mind, jut to be able to write a no-bullshit review. Such was the case from Step One. They sent us some bloke’s undies, the ones you see on TV worn by the slightly chubby guy talking about chaffing. You know the one.

Anyway, I’ve always been intrigued by the business, as I watched it grow and grow and grow over the years and have been interested to know if it was any good. It turns out that I can genuinely see what’s made it a success, aside from its massive marketing budget and savvy business nous.

If you’ve got decent size legs from squats, you’ll chaff. It’s a fact of life. Put on a few kilos; those thighs will rub raw when you sweat. That’s what Step One is designed for: sweaty thighs. They use this supposed thing called an “UltraGlyde” panel, strategically placed between the thighs. It’s a fancy name for a bamboo panel that shields both inner legs and slips past each other frictionless, like silk sheets.

Beyond this, Step One has “moisture-wicking properties”.  This is actually a thing and not some bullshit marketing double-speak. Wicking is a complex and interesting physical phenomenon, all explained here, if you want to go down that rabbit hole.

Step One has stats that they claim show that 22% of men wear their underwear more than once before washing. It probably sounds a bit low in my experience. More like it’s only 22% of men who don’t wear undies more than once. Thankfully, bamboo’s a natural, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, so this plays out well for you guys. You know who you are.

Apparently, this is a big unspoken problem for men worldwide because a pair is sold every 8 seconds across Australia, the US, and the UK. So, since you started reading this Step One, you have sold about 7 or 8 pairs of undies.

Anyway, the founder, Greg Taylor — a mega-rich dude by now, undoubtedly, as his company is listed on the ASX and captures 6 per cent of the Australian men’s market — went for a hike one day and had his Eureka moment. His thighs got chaffed. Greg decided enough was enough. He couldn’t find any underwear that met his needs, so he took matters into his own hands, so to speak. The result? Step One underwear and an interesting experience as a start-up.

Review Step One

First up, they were good. They are comfortable, and as someone who trains, runs hikes almost daily, they were great. Yes, all chaffing was gone, and my boys felt very comfortable. They were tight and perceptibly more comfortable than UA or Bonds, but I will say that the only downside was that they were smaller than I thought. If you’re buying a medium in Under Armour or Bonds online, go a size up.

Apart from that, five stars.