A brief history of Men’s Underwear
Men’s underwear over the years has changed in many ways. In Victorian times clothing was worn to conceal the body and underwear especially was not discussed. This inevitably lead to underwear acquiring erotic properties. Men’s underwear during these times was in two pieces and all undergarments were made by hand and they were made from cotton and silk.
During the 1920’s men’s underwear was more about convenience and comfort. This era saw the introduction of the first pre-shrunk fabrics and boasted cotton, wool and silk blends. It also saw the introduction of other technologies such as button fastenings.
The 1930’s brought about the biggest revolution for men’s underwear. The ‘Jockey’ brief was introduced in a shop window in 1935 on a day when the inhabitants of Chicago had to endure the worst blizzard of the winter. The window display was removed by the management for trying to sell such skimpy underwear on such a cold day but before the display could be removed 600 pairs of Jockey shorts were sold and 30,000 pairs were sold in the next three months alone. When they went on sale in Britain in 1938 they sold around 3000 pairs a week.
Throughout the mid and latter part of the 20th century underwear started to appear in the form of printed and coloured garments and branding really started to become prevalent around this time with manufacturers such as Calvin Klein. Underwear began to be a fashion statement. With the introduction of Lycra and Spandex new fabric technology started to become important and underwear became smaller with far more variety designed for specific age groups and purposes.