I'm surprised you have a wife with that mindset haha
The go to hiking underwear is exofficio, which start at about 20 bucks a pair. I couldn't spend that for something I might not like when I got them. I bought about 20 dollars worth of sports underwear at fifty cent a pop, to find out what I liked. All compression shorts are not created equal, but I did find two or three that work. Now I don't wear underwear hiking anymore. I do the Nike leggings in the summertime, and Cuddle Duds in the winter. {both of which I bought from Walmart.com}
I did the same thing with wool socks. Everyone wears Darn Tough, which start at about 14 bucks a pair. I bought about a hundred pair of thrift store wool socks, but in the end bought the Darn Tough's anyway. They have lifetime replacement if you wear a hole in them, but the main thing is they work the best.