ExOfficio website

I don’t know if they are going out of business.  But I did notice when signing up at the Exofficio website for purchase discounts today, that the “Welcome to Exofficio” email that they sent to me, was sent from “Marmot Mountain, LLC.”

Does anybody know if they are going out of business?

Your guess is as good as mine. It appears that ExOfficio is owned by Newell Brands, which also owns Marmot, Coleman, Campingaz and many, many other brands across multiple industries.

I am (was?) a big fan of ExOfficio clothing and own many pieces, but have seen what appears to be a slow decline in materials.  The give-n-go boxer briefs are a good example…used to be the best underwear ever, then they changed the waistband and the material for the worse. Sadly, a slow steady decline in quality once a brand is owned by VC firms or anyone not truly invested in the product is a common story.

I went on there to get another pair of my new favorite BugsAway pants and noticed the same thing. I reached out to the company to find out what’s up and it turns out they’re becoming an underwear only company. No more BugsAway or anything but undies. Disappointing and a bit odd. I wonder how long they’ll last with the new model.

Thanks for the info, Lisa. Wow.

Well  this news stinks. Used to backpack in just a merino T in hot weather but was forced to wear a long sleeve shirt on a trip bc of meds. That experience totally sold me on the Airstrip shirts. Loved the pockets, rolled sleeves up or down as needed, dried in a flash, treated with permethrin seemed like it helped with bugs.

…they’re becoming an underwear only company.

Well  this news stinks…

I’ll say.  IMO they seriously degraded their men’s underwear with the changes mentioned previously.  Their shirts and pants were still pretty nice.  Total bummer.

@Lyndell T – You may want to look at the Columbia Men’s PFG Low Drag Offshore Long Sleeve Shirt.  They are my year-round go-to hiking shirt, after a trip to Insect Shield.

This is sad news. Bummer.

Yes it is sad.  At one point they had a complete set of Bugs Away clothing, socks, pants, shirt, bandana, etc.

Since circa 2007-2009, I have found that they degraded the designs of many of the pants, esp the model formerly branded amphi? : bad fit, shorter pockets, weaker waist buttons, different sizing across the product line etc.

The give-n-go boxer briefs are a good example…used to be the best underwear ever, then they changed the waistband and the material for the worse.

FWIW I have been wearing the Give n Go Sport Mesh Boxer Briefs in daily life and backpacking since 2016 and I am positive there has not been a change in the fabric or waistband in the Sport Mesh variant. I absolutely love these and I tend to notice even slight variations in the cut or materials of other garments (I’d call myself picky). I picked up some new ones on sale just a couple months back. No change.

Agree…the sportmesh have not changed.  But in standard HYOH fashion, I absolutely hated them :)  Something about the fabric … quite possibly simply because it wasn’t the same as the regular g-n-g boxer briefs.  I have moved on the 32 degree cool nylon boxer brief on Amazon. Side benefit…4 pair for the price of one g-n-g.

Edit: To be clear…my complaints are about the “Men’s Give-N-Go® 2.0 Boxer Brief”.  It’s that “2.0” that gives away the change. At least they were honest about it.

I checked the link for the Columbia shirt, provided by JCH five posts above this one.  It looks pretty good, but my Columbia shirts don’t have the same nice feel of the old version of Exofficio Minimo shirts.  The Minimos were made of 100% nylon, while the Columbia shirts that I have are polyester.  The Minimo felt cool and smooth on the skin, resisted stink very well, and they are still some of the most attractive plaid shirts in my closet.  Very tough, long wearing, and just 5.3 ounces in medium.

Unfortunately the Minimo changed fabric, lost the attractive plaid color ways, and became heavier.  Sad news about the decline of the Exofficio clothing brand.

Now where to go for good briefs for backpacking?

I don’t like boxers.

The give n go briefs I  have used for the past 5 years or so have done well. They’ve been especially good at preventing chafing between testicles and legs.

@Paul S – as mentioned above I have been very happy with the 32* Cool underwear.  They are not quite as good as the (v1.0) ExOfficio drawers, but are at least 85% as good…mostly nylon with a little spandex.  They also sell briefs. Might be worth a try?