# What is EXODUS underwear made of? | EXODUS

> What the Goshen Boxer Brief is made of. 200gsm GOTS-certified organic cotton, OEKO-TEX certified dyes, third-party lab testing, and what those certifications do not cover. A guide from EXODUS (House of Exodus), the men's organic cotton underwear brand, at https://houseofexodus.co/guides/whats-in-our-underwear.

Live page: https://houseofexodus.co/guides/whats-in-our-underwear
Updated: 2026-08-22

## Short answer

The Goshen Boxer Brief is 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton. The fabric is a 200gsm knit, tagless, dyed with OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified dyes, and third-party lab tested for azo dyes, heavy metals, and carcinogens. There is no polyester and no elastane in the fabric.

## Start with the fabric

It is **100% GOTS-certified organic cotton**, knit at 200gsm. GOTS is a
field-to-garment standard: the certification follows the fiber through growing
and processing instead of being stamped on a finished product. There is no
polyester and no elastane in the fabric, so the give comes from the knit and the
fabric weight.

A cotton knit relaxes slightly over a day and comes back in the wash. See
[100% cotton boxer briefs](/guides/100-percent-cotton-boxer-briefs) for what that
feels like in wear.

## Component by component

<div class="guide-table">
<table>
<caption>Goshen Boxer Brief, by component. Anything marked not published is a gap we have not closed, not a detail we are asking you to assume.</caption>
<thead>
<tr><th scope="col">Component</th><th scope="col">Material</th><th scope="col">Independent standard</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="is-ours"><th scope="row">Body panels</th><td>100% organic cotton, 200gsm knit</td><td>GOTS certified</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Dye</th><td>Dyestuff on the cotton</td><td>OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Size and care marking</th><td>Applied to the inside of the garment, no sewn-in tag</td><td>Not separately published</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Sewing thread</th><td>Not published</td><td>Not published</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

Two rows say "not published". Leaving them out would make the table look more
complete than it is. Sewing thread is a small fraction of a garment by mass, and
in most apparel it is polyester. We have not published ours, so we do not imply
it is cotton.

## The two certifications, and what each one is for

They get used interchangeably. They cover different things.

**GOTS**, the Global Organic Textile Standard, is a supply-chain standard. It
certifies organic fiber content and the processing that turns fiber into a
garment: which chemical inputs are permitted, how wastewater is handled, and
social criteria at the facilities involved.

**OEKO-TEX Standard 100** is a product test. It takes the finished article and
tests it against limit values for a defined list of harmful substances, with
tighter limits for articles in direct skin contact, which is the class underwear
sits in.

Neither substitutes for the other. GOTS does not lab-test the finished garment.
OEKO-TEX says nothing about whether the cotton was organically grown. The full
breakdown is in [what makes underwear non-toxic](/guides/non-toxic-mens-underwear).

## What the testing found, and what that sentence means

Goshen has been third-party lab tested clear of azo dyes, heavy metals, and
carcinogens, alongside the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification on the dyes.

"Tested clear of" means: for the substances within the test's scope, the measured
level was below the standard's limit value. It does not mean a lab confirmed the
absence of every molecule. No test does that. Detection limits and substance lists
are finite. "Not detected" describes one assay for one compound at one
sensitivity.

That is still far more than an untested garment can say. It is just not the
unlimited claim the phrase suggests.

## What is deliberately absent

- **No elastane in the panels.** The give comes from the knit and the fabric
  weight. See [100% cotton boxer briefs](/guides/100-percent-cotton-boxer-briefs).
- **No polyester in the fabric**, so no synthetic fiber shedding from the panels
  in the wash.
- **No sewn-in tag.**
- **No water-repellent, stain-release, or anti-static finish.** Those finishes are
  the usual route for fluorinated chemistry into a garment. Underwear needs none
  of them.

<section class="guide-limits">
<h2>Limits of this page</h2>
<p class="guide-limits-note">The gaps in our own disclosure, what the certifications do not cover, and what we have not measured yet.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The sewing thread composition is not published.</strong> In most apparel it is polyester. We are not claiming ours is cotton.</li>
<li><strong>The lab reports are not posted.</strong> You are taking our written claim, not reading a document. That is weaker than a link, and we will not call it transparency until the documents are up.</li>
<li><strong>GOTS does not test the finished garment</strong> for residue levels, and <strong>OEKO-TEX Standard 100 does not certify organic content</strong>. Two certifications do not add up to one bigger one.</li>
<li><strong>Neither standard covers microplastic shedding.</strong> There is no certification for it. The no-shedding argument for this garment rests on the composition, not on a mark.</li>
<li><strong>We make no health, hormonal, or fertility claim.</strong> Materials and certification are what we can evidence. A garment is not a medical treatment.</li>
<li><strong>Certification is annual and article-specific.</strong> An OEKO-TEX certificate covers a defined article for a defined period. It is not a permanent property of a brand, ours included. For any badge, ask which article and which year.</li>
</ul>
</section>

## Questions

### What does 200gsm mean and why does it matter here?

Grams per square meter, the fabric's weight. 200gsm is heavy for underwear. Weight matters more in 100% cotton than in a blend, because there is no elastane pulling the knit back into shape. More yarn per unit area holds shape better and thins more slowly in the wash.

### What does tagless actually mean?

No sewn-in label. Size and care information is applied to the inside of the garment, so nothing stiff rubs against skin.

### Are the lab reports public?

Not yet. The test reports are not posted as documents, so the claims on this page are ours to make and yours to ask about. If seeing the reports would change your decision, ask us. Requests like that are what get this page changed.

### Does the underwear do anything for testosterone or fertility?

We make no such claim. We describe what the garment is made of and which standards it has been tested against. A brand that promises a hormonal or reproductive outcome from underwear is going further than the evidence.

## Related

- All guides: https://houseofexodus.co/guides.md
- The product: https://houseofexodus.co/products/goshen.md