Underwear, Panties, Boxers, Whatever you call em..

Underwear Facts:

(1) Briefs outsell boxer shorts by a margin of 2-1.
(2) Women prefer men in boxers 2 to 1 over briefs.
(3) Men 25 and under are the largest users of boxer shorts.
(4) Women prefer young guys since they wear boxer shorts.

Lets look at Underwear History.

With clothing manufacturers spending millions on the advertising, development and production of underwear, it is difficult not to question whether what's under there is a necessity or an indulgence.

Centuries ago, underwear was only worn by the wealthiest of nobles. With the introduction of linen in the 18th century, lingerie elitism made way for mass under-wearing. In turn, the life expectancy of peasants sky-rocketed as they became significantly less prone to bacterial disease and infection. Of course the aristocracy swiftly drove underwear to new more expensive heights with corsets and bloomers of richer material. An assurance that class will always find a way of highlighting its lines and divisions. In fact, class is still delineating itself underneath our pants.

Underwear history can be followed through the US Patent library. These patents represent significant functional benefits in underwear that are unobvious, novel and have a useful purpose.

The first significant advancement in underwear technology was the creation of the Jockey® Y-vent brief in 1934. This was the first time a truly functional vent was applied to boxers and briefs. This was followed closely by Munsingwear® who developed the kangaroo pouch underwear in 1936. The horizontal vent was functional and differed from the Jockey® diagonal vent brief. This design was also used in boxers and briefs.

Today, as much as things have changed they stay the same. Underwear now comes in many more colors, fabrics and patterns then at any other time. Jockey® today still continues to sell their Y-Vent underwear and also sell the Munsingwear® horizontal vent design.

The first known U.S. appearance of the thong was in 1939 at the World's Fair when the Mayor of New York, Fiorello LaGuardia ordered that the city's nude dancers put something on to cover themselves a bit. So they used thongs. Fasion designer Rudi Gernreich, however, was credited for introducing the first thong in 1974. Gernreich also created a lot of topless designs, such as a topless bathing suit and a topless nightgown.

In 2500 B.C., Minoan women had bra-like clothing in which their breast were actually sticking out of their clothes. Years later, ancient Roman and Greek woman wore straps on their breast to make their breasts seem smaller, as breasts were NOT the fashion. Some people say that Otto Titzling invented the first bra, but because of his humorous names, and the other humorous names of his partners, it is said to be fiction. From a survey, it is shown that if a woman doesn't wear a bra, she has a 21% less of a chance from getting breast cancer. Although, this survey was said to be untrue, as they didn't take in their other habits, such as drugs or alcohol. A woman by the name of Berbel Zummer, was walking through the park one day in Vienna. She was wearing a metal under wire to support her large frame. Then a storm came up and a bolt of lightning became attracted to her bra. It zapped her resulting in her death.

Long, long time ago, people used loincloths, as they had no idea how to make underwear we use today. King Tutankhamen had 150 loincloths in his tomb. In the 20th century, people began to wear union suits. In the 1930's people ditched their union suits and went to boxers and briefs. They also stopped using buttons and switched to elastic waistbands. In 1997, the book Captain Underpants hit stores.