What's Underneath it All? A Revealing Look at Underwear.

Underwear is something pretty important, kinda personal, and so literally connected to the most private parts of us that talking about it publicly is not a very everyday thing to do. Having said that, we all know that even the shortest time in an uncomfortable pair can get us squirming about like earthworms on the ground.

Now, we get that the image of earthworms might not be the best way to start a post about underwear! But we do find it fascinating that someone, somewhere, for some reason, decided to create this rather important piece of clothing that constitutes an industry worth billions of dollars today. So fascinating in fact that today’s post is going to take a brief (pun intended) look at a little history, and some strange facts, relating to revealing underwear.

And, historically speaking, we figured we might as well start at the top - with the bra.

We imagine that, at some point in time, someone finally must have said, “hey, let’s do something with those,” and women have been binding and otherwise supporting their breasts ever since.

The first bras may well date back to ancient Greece, where women would wrap bands of fabric across their chests, tying or pinning them in the back. And the "brassiere," as a widespread concept (the word comes from the French for "upper arm") is generally thought to have originated with the DeBevoise Company.

Vogue began talking about brassieres in 1907 and in 1911, the word made it into the Oxford English Dictionary.

But the modern bra - the garment that lifts and separates, via cups and straps - became part of the world, officially, on November 3, 1914. That was the day the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent to Mary Phelps Jacobs for the garment she called a "brassiere."

A New York socialite, Phelps actually invented the bra by accident the year before, when her whalebone corset simply wouldn’t do under her sheer evening gown.

Using a pair of silk handkerchiefs and some silk ribbon, Phelps MacGyvered her way into lingerie history. For a brief time, she manufactured her “Backless Brassiere” under the wonderful business name of Caresse Crosby. She sold her patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Co. in Connecticut for $1,500. Warner, which would develop the “alphabet” system for bra cup sizes (A, B, C, D) in 1935, made some $15 million from Jacob’s invention over the next 30 years.

World War I, in addition to ushering in more-comfortable women’s underwear, helped free women from restrictive corsets with metal stays: due to metal shortages as a result of the war, the government discouraged women from buying them, which saved some 28,000 tons of metal for the war effort.

The new brassiere helped take up the slack. Other innovations soon followed: garter belts to hold up flappers’ stockings when they danced;

girdles to replace the corset; latex panties, introduced in 1930; nylon stockings in 1940 (when 64 million pairs were sold and manufacturers couldn’t keep up with demand, women had to resort to painted-on stockings or going bare after World War II cut off supplies of silk and nylon).

Pantyhose were invented in 1959 - not surprisingly, many women would note - by a man, Allen Grant Sr. Another man, fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, also gets the credit (or blame) for popularizing the thong in the 1970’s. (in 2001, Frederick’s of Hollywood claimed that 90% of all its underwear sales were thongs).

On the men’s side of things, the piece of clothing we call underwear today used to be a loincloth. The oldest, made of leather (we’re not here to judge…) have been found dating back 7,000 years. Later, in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome they were made of wool or linen. The Egyptian Pharaoh, King Tut, was buried with 145 pairs of underwear.

In the 1500’s men were wearing codpieces, which was a covering pouch that attached to the crotch. By the time they reached their peak of size and decoration they were so large that men used to carry small weapons or jewels in them – from which the term “family jewels” was born.

Interest in the codpiece slowly wilted and, in the 1600’s, men (especially royalty) started wearing 13-inch-long shorts that somewhat relate to what we know as jockey briefs today.

In 1874, C.F. Bennett, working for a Chicago sporting goods company, invented the jockstrap. Around this time most urban centers were paved with uneven cobblestone surfaces which made it especially difficult for cyclers, whose family jewels suffered relentless abuse. Bennett’s invention offered a solution and, through his new company – Bike Web – he started distributing it.

The jockstrap consists of an elastic waistband with a supportive pouch for the boys and two straps attached to the base of the pouch on either side. Guelph Elastic Hosiery of Ontario added the first hard cup in 1927. Happily, another jockstrap innovation, marketed in 1900 as the Heidelberg Electric Belt, failed to catch on; it administered a low voltage purported to cure impotence, insomnia, and other ailments.

But modern men’s underwear didn’t really take shape until a postcard from the French Riviera arrived in the mailbox of Arthur Kneibler, an executive at the Coopers underwear company in Wisconsin. The postcard, depicting men wearing snug swimwear, inspired Kneibler to create men’s briefs. First sold at Chicago’s Marshall Fields department store on Jan. 19, 1935 and named the jockey (because they provided support previously found only in jockstraps), the briefs were a sensation. The company sold 30,000 in just three months and eventually renamed itself Jockey.

That concludes our brief look at the evolution of underwear. Now, on to a few interesting factoids that you can throw around at your next underwear party.

· Did you know that wearing underwear was considered cheating in Ferret Legging? Well, it was. Described, somewhat understandably, as a dying sport, Ferret Legging originated in public houses in Yorkshire, England “where patrons would bet on who could keep a ferret in his pants the longest.” In 1977, Edward Simpkins set a new world record of five hours and ten minutes, although he only had one ferret in his trousers during the first four hours and two for the last seventy minutes. During the contest Simpkins continued to play a game of darts undeterred.

· At the 1956 Olympics, an Australian student successfully impersonated an Olympic torchbearer, handing the mayor of Sydney a painted chair leg topped with a pair of burning underwear in front of a crowd of thousands.

· The British Army issues antimicrobial underwear that can be worn for three months at a time.

· Up until the 1800’s, it was commonly believed that placing dirty underwear in a bucket with wheat grains would “generate” mice. This was called spontaneous generation, the idea that life could be created from nonliving objects.

· A pair of Queen Victoria’s underwear, featuring yards of white cream fabric and her embroidered initials (VR), sold at auction for $14,500.

· Before air conditioning, many people had a simple solution for keeping cool: storing their underwear in the freezer.

· American settlers would often sew up their underwear for the winter to avoid trying to button them with frozen fingers. Unfortunately, this meant they didn’t bathe until spring.

· Carrie Fisher wore no underwear in Star Wars because George Lucas convinced her “there is no underwear in outer space.”

· Actress Tallulah Bankhead was infamous for not wearing underwear. During the filming of Lifeboat, the crew complained about her flashing them when she had to climb a ladder. Director Alfred Hitchcock reportedly quipped that he didn’t know if it was a matter for wardrobe or hairdressing.

· In Alberta, Canada an 18-year-old man tried to eat his underwear in the hope that the cotton fabric would absorb alcohol before he took a breathalyzer test. Here is a link to the news story just so you don’t think we’re making this one up... https://renaissancemag.com/humor/h0699.asp

As we reflect on the fascinating history and a few peculiar facts surrounding underwear, it’s evident that this seemingly mundane piece of clothing has had a significant impact on our lives, both socially and culturally. These humble garments continue to intrigue, surprise, and sometimes delight us. So, the next time you slip into your favorite pair of underwear, stop for a minute to remember the rich tapestry of history that shaped this intimate part of our daily lives.

Do you have a funny underwear story or a favorite brand? Tell us about it in the comments below or in the Way Out There section in our forums.

We thought now would be a good time to give a shout out to a couple of our favorite underwear brands:

Hemp underwear

because it’s organic and good for the planet. We wonder, if you could, would you want to smoke it too??? https://wamaunderwear.com/

Saxx

because they have absolutely the most creatively funny ads ever. And because we like ‘em! https://www.saxxunderwear.com/

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