Urban Quest: Scandinavian underwear without decoration
Urban Quest is a Scandinavian brand making underwear and basics in bamboo viscose. The expression is minimalist in the Nordic sense: clean colours, no prints, no logos on the outside, and a fit meant to be forgotten once the clothes are on.
The brand has found its place in the part of the range where price and quality have to meet. It is not the most expensive we carry, and it is not the cheapest, but it is one of the brands people return to, precisely because there is nothing to be dissatisfied with.
Urban Quest in our range
The weight is on the women's side, and the clearly largest single group is bamboo panties with more than twenty styles. This is where the brand has its real programme, and it is also the category people most often buy several of at once.
When a brand makes more than twenty different pairs of knickers, it is not for the sake of variety. It is because the cut determines whether a pair works for a particular body, and because there is no single cut that suits everyone.
The three big differences are the waist height, the leg opening and the width at the back. A high waisted pair sits above the hip and stays put when you bend, which makes it the safe choice for a working day. A hipster sits on the hip and disappears under low rise trousers. And the width at the back determines whether there is a line visible through close fitting clothes.
It is worth buying one of each the first couple of times to find out which is yours, rather than buying five identical pairs and discovering the cut does not suit you.
How many pairs is enough
Underwear is one of the few items where the number matters more than the brand. With too few pairs you wash too often and too hot, and they wear out faster no matter how good they were. With enough, each pair gets to rest between wears, and the elastic lasts longer.
The arithmetic is simple: washing weekly, you need at least seven pairs plus a couple extra for the days when laundry gets postponed. Most people are best served by ten. Bought together, they wear evenly and can be replaced in one go, rather than the drawer ending up a mixed archive of several years of purchases.
About the colours
The palette stays in black, white, grey and a few muted tones, and that is practical rather than dull. Black and dark colours do not show through thin clothing, white and nude disappear under light trousers, and because the brand keeps making the same colours, you can top up in a year and get something that matches what you already own.
Why bamboo in underwear
Underwear is where the material is felt most clearly, because it sits against the skin all day with nothing in between. Bamboo viscose has two properties that count here: the fibres are round and fine, so the surface is smooth rather than coarse, and the material carries moisture away instead of holding on to it.
The latter is the practical difference. A damp, warm layer between skin and fabric is exactly the environment where irritation and odour arise, and a material that moves the moisture out into the fabric gives less of both. For people with sensitive skin it is often the single change that does most.
Sizing and care
Bamboo viscose has more stretch than cotton, and Urban Quest cuts close. On panties and boxers stay in your normal size, because the close fit is what keeps them in place. On T-shirts and tops you can go one up for a looser drape.
Wash at 40 degrees without fabric softener, which leaves a film on the fibres and closes off the moisture transport that is the whole point of the material. Anything with elastic lasts longest on low heat or air dried. Turn garments inside out to reduce surface wear and keep the colour longer.
Where it fits in
Urban Quest sits close to Bamboo Basics in both range and price, and to Copenhagen Bamboo in the Scandinavian expression. For men's underwear alone, JBS and Resteröds are the nearest.
