Introduction to Chaffree – the underwear that gives relief from sweating and chafing
Where did Chaffree come from?
Chaffree is an acronym for Chafe – Free.
As a woman who for nearly all of my adult life wore trousers as my shape and size meant the dreaded agony of thigh chafing, Chaffree came from a massive personal want and need. Having been in the situation where summer holidays were a dread as I was constantly having to find and wear longer shorts/culottes as my thighs would start to rub/sweat/chafe leaving me with redness, abrasions, soreness and sometimes even bleeding.
I really didn’t like wearing tights (hosiery) as I found them very uncomfortable and they didn’t deal with my thigh chafing problem. If anything they added to it as the constant rubbing of the nylon/fabric just accelerated the problem.
The final straw came when I was at a friends summer wedding. I was wearing control underwear as well as tights that gave you lift and control. Initially they felt ok but by the time we sat down for lunch, I was seriously uncomfortable as the underwear was digging into me causing welts, redness and irritating my skin. I went to the bathroom and basically gave myself a good talking to. Why was I suffering like this and for what? I decided enough was enough and I took the underwear and the tights off and threw them in the bin. I left that bathroom commando! Knicker-less and feeling seriously awkward, I went and sat back down and enjoyed the rest of the wedding. I didn’t even tell my husband I didn’t have any underwear on until much later in the evening when I got up to dance. NO ONE could tell I didn’t have underwear on (so much for control and lift!) and more than half of the women in the room didn’t have tights on, so no one noticed that either. I had been suffering for nothing. I know that had the people I was with knew how uncomfortable I was, they would have told me to take it off anyway.
How did you go about designing it?
Well I really didn’t know where to start. Having no retail or design background (I was more a numbers/admin person) but I remembered a lady I met a number of years back, who ran a medical underwear business, so I got in touch with her. The great news was that her husband had just set up a consultancy business to help people just like me.
I made a list ( it was a rather large list) of what I demanded from the underwear. How I wanted to feel, what I wanted to achieve and above all what I wanted to change and headed out to the meeting. At this point I still hadn’t really thought about it as a business, I knew I just needed that particular garment.
What happened next?
After the initial conversation with the underwear consultant, I was buzzing. They hadn’t heard of a product on the market that met all my demands but said ‘YES’ it could be done.
I think it was at that point that I actually realised that I could make a business out of this. Still no idea what that involved but I knew that I wasn’t only person who suffered from sensitive skin and chafing.
The second time I met the consultant, I took my mum with me. We both came back buzzing, I will never forget that day as on the way back we met with my gran (mum’s mum) and told her about it. We then sat over coffee and tried to think of a name. It was my mum that stumbled upon the name Chaffree. The people around us that day must have thought we were mad. Laughing and talking like kids about the word knickers! 🙂
What were the characteristics/features/attributes/requirements of Chaffree?
This was actually a very long list and like a child in a sweetie shop, when I kept getting the answer ‘yes’ that can be done, ‘yes’ you can have that, ‘yes’, ‘yes’, ‘yes’, my ‘demands’ list just kept getting longer.
The basics of the underwear had to have the following:
- Stop/reduce/chafing
- Seamless
- Sweat resistant
- Stretchy
- Easy to care for (machine washable)
- Shorts as well as briefs/knickers/pants in different leg lengths
- Good range of sizes
It was from the experience and advice of my consultant that support, colorfast, cotton gusset, double stitching (for additional strength), latex free, label free and ‘don’t leave men out’ were also added to the demand list.
Trials and Testing
There were quite a few stumbling blocks along the way as we weren’t happy with the first samples but as the garments were being tested (by friends, family and myself) changes were made.
The more I spoke to people about chaffree, the more it was obvious that these underwear garments were needed by a lot more people than I first imagined. So we had to make chaffree for anyone and everyone regardless of age, sex, fitness, weight, size and shape.
I also wanted to incorporate free postage, range of colours, plain and fancy underwear but above all the garments had to ‘work’. They had to pass not only my tests but also the tests of my friends and family. Only when everyone was happy were they then signed off and put into manufacture.
I hope you like Chaffree, above all I hope it changes whatever it is that you wanted to change when you bought the underwear. I hope it meets your demands and ticks all your boxes. IF IT DOESN’T and you have a suggestion on how we can improve even further your underwear experience then please do get in CONTACT with me.
Chaffree was developed from a personal need as I think that underwear is personal and you should feel good in it. You wear it everyday with some people wearing it 24/7. You should feel confident, comfortable and irritation free in it.
I would love to hear your stories of how chaffree has helped you, how it has changed your life for the better. So please do get in contact with me or leave a product review ( you will receive an email 9 days after purchase asking for a review) and help me spread the word. Alternatively you can pop over to our social media pages (links below) and join in some of our discussions.
Don’t ever think you are alone in demanding more from your underwear. I kick myself that I put up with being unsatisfied, chafed and uncomfortable with my underwear for far too many years. NOT ANYMORE AND NEVER AGAIN.
Amanda Whaley
Founder of Chaffree