The Gusset — Why It's Different and Why You Should Care
I started Cuurve because of a pad. Wearing one gave me a wedgie — it would shift, ride up, sit wrong, no matter what underwear I put on over it. I went through brand after brand and none of them were built to actually hold a pad in place. So I built my own.
Most underwear is built to one average size, then scaled up and down. The gusset — the panel between the legs — usually shrinks or stays the same width across every size, because that's cheaper to grade. The result: seams that dig, fabric that shifts, a fit that never quite sits right, whatever size you buy.
I measured mine instead of guessing.
Cuurve's gusset sits at 6.5cm at its narrowest point — wider than standard high-street briefs, measured, not guessed. That figure holds across every colourway of Cosy Charlotte, same pattern, sized up or down. It isn't a marketing number. It's what I found putting a tape measure against my own shorts and a stack of everyone else's.
More width means more fabric, and more fabric means more space. A pad needs room to actually sit on, not just a strip of fabric it hangs off the edge of. The wider the gusset, the more surface there is holding it in place — which is the difference between a pad staying put and a pad shifting until it wedges.
What it's made from
Cosy Charlotte's gusset construction varies by colourway. Most currently use a bamboo blend, chosen for softness against skin and for holding its shape wash after wash. Blush, our closing lace run, uses a modal gusset instead — built to the same width as the bamboo-gusset colourways, so the fit doesn't change, only the fabric does.
We're moving the whole range to modal going forward, so future runs will carry a modal gusset throughout.
Cosy Charlotte itself comes in two outer fabrics: TENCEL™ Modal and ECONYL® Regenerated Nylon. Both sit over the same gusset construction. The choice between them comes down to feel, not fit.
Why it matters day to day
A wider gusset means less digging, less rolling, less adjusting through the day — whether you're wearing them to sleep, through a long day at a desk, or through a day your body is doing something different than usual.
Sarah, one of our customers, put it better than we could: "On days when my pain is bad, these shorts are exactly what I need. They're incredibly soft, never restrictive, and honestly feel like a hug. They're beautiful, comfortable, and make resting feel dignified."
Charlie, another customer, described the whole range as "comfort without compromise" — the standard we measure every gusset against.
I didn't set out to build a period product or a medical product. I set out to build shorts that fit properly, for a body that changes day to day — because most underwear is built as if it doesn't.
