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Underwear sits against your skin for most of the day, but how often do you consider the impact of the items you’re wearing so intimately? Melita Cyril didn’t until she needed to find items gentle enough for super sensitive skin: only to realise that what goes into our underwear isn’t always good. Cyril founded Q For Quinn (“Good”) to change that, and explains here the issues associated with underwear and how she’s working to change them.
Why underwear can affect your wellbeing and how you feel
You’ve been there: a sharp label in the back of your pants, a rough-edged bra seam, a top made from scratchy fabric that leaves you feeling at best uncomfortable or even infuriated by the end of the day. Worse, these irritants can trigger eczema flare-ups for some people.
Synthetic fabrics can cause issues, too, since they’re not breathable and can make the wearer overheat. And that’s before you consider how such sensitive skin reacts to the dyes and chemicals used in some materials—the contents of which are often not clear from a garment label or online listing.
Melita Cyril came up against all this when shopping for some gentle socks for her 10-month-old son, who is an eczema sufferer. “Through my research, I discovered that our clothing can pose health risks,” she says. “Studies have shown the presence of high levels of BPA, PFAS, and other harmful chemicals in some clothing items, much of which is synthetic, like polyester, nylon, or spandex.”
This issue doesn’t just affect the wearer; garment workers in the supply chain have reported skin and health issues from handling dyed or chemical-laden materials every day. And later on in the clothing lifecycle when items are disposed of, there’s a risk that such chemicals or dyes will leach into the surrounding environment. Chemicals, dyes, and synthetic fibres also pose major barriers to an item’s biodegradability.
With Cyril’s search for gentle socks proving fruitless, she set about creating her own to suit her son’s skin. Enter: Q For Quinn. “I wanted to offer something better and free from harmful toxins,” Cyril explains of her now eight-year-old brand. Soon, the collection expanded from socks to include all the other items that sit closest to your skin across men’s, women’s and children’ s categories.
Melita Cyril, founder of Q For Quinn
What is gentle underwear?
Cyril’s concept of gentle underwear involves using plant-based dyes made with ingredients like pomegranate extract, madder root, acacia, and annatto seed, or offering undyed products for those who want or need to avoid chemicals completely. And when non-plant dyes are used, they’re azo-free.
Fabrics are important, too, and all the brand’s cotton is GOTS certified organic. Another key material is merino wool, which is sourced from mulesing-free Australian farms, avoids dyes or chemicals, and is certified by the Responsible Wool Standard. It’s still a challenge to create products with stretch qualities without incorporating synthetics like elastane, so when these are needed they’re used sparingly—most of Q For Quinn’s items with stretch use 2-5% elastane.
Working to minimise chemicals and synthetic fibres isn’t easy, but the results are worth it, Cyrill says: “Hearing from our customers keeps me going. Many struggle daily with allergic reactions, severe eczema, or other skin sensitivities, and their stories remind me why our work matters.”
Sustainability encompasses all aspects of business, of course, so while the underwear itself ought to be gentle, so too should its impact on the workers, animals, and environment. “Every product we make is guided by our principle of only creating products for good. It has to solve a problem for our customers, it should have minimal impact on our planet by way of materials used, but also be durable so our customers don’t have to replace often,” Cyril notes of the brand’s ethos. Q For Quinn traces some of its supply chain, including all of the final production stage, and contributes to Mary’s Meals, a charity initiative to provide school meals which has so far donated over 450,000 of them. And throughout November 2025, the brand will donate an extra five school meals for every purchase on its site.
The next step: biodegradability
Making products biodegradable is, Cyril says, a natural progression for the brand in its pursuit of better products for both the wearer and the planet, so Q For Quinn’s latest collection, a line of pretty pointelle items, is almost entirely biodegradable. That means the they’re made from chemical-free, undyed, organic materials and can therefore break down safely in the environment. Cyril caveats that the bra does have the necessary hook and eye fastening which means it’s technically not biodegradable as is, but she advises this can be easily cut off when the time comes for disposing of the products.
Below, we’re highlighting some of our favourite pieces from the collection, along with a few picks from the brand’s wider offering, too. Scroll on to discover Q For Quinn’s more sustainable and gentle underwear.
Highlights from Q For Quinn’s gentle underwear collection
Pointelle French-cut bikini pants, bra, thong, and boxers
Two-pack of plant-dyed organic cotton bralettes
Undyed organic cotton bikini-cut pants, available in singles or as a multipack
Merino wool socks for adults, and for children
High-waisted maternity organic-cotton briefs
