From Kaito Shirt to Underpants - A Brief History of Underpants Design Development

The History of Underwear

Prehistoric men used girdles, and archaeologists have found fragments of a 7,000-year-old animal-skin girdle, which is presumed to have been shaped like a baby's diaper. Ancient Greeks also used loincloths, which historians suspect were worn only by slaves, and citizens appear to have been naked under their kaytons. Ancient Romans had to diversify, with some wearing long petticoats and others wearing wraparound girdles.

In the 13th century

Braies, a Saxon word for pocketed, loose-fitting petticoats, knee-length, made of linen and cinched at the waist with a cord, were worn by everyone from kings to peasants. By the Renaissance, they were shortened and flapped in the front so that men did not have to remove them when urinating. The pleated flaps were either buttoned or fastened with a drawstring, and became the prototype of the modern men's trouser style. In those days, men did not wear pants and wore tight stockings over their underpants, held in place by garters, so Henry VIII padded the crotch of his underpants. Historians speculate that he may have hidden bandages soaked in potion in the crotch of his pants to ease the pain caused by syphilis. Many men used the flaps of their shirts as handy pockets in which to carry medicines and money to treat STDs.

The Tudor era

Men's underpants became robust and simple, knee-length, with buttons on the placket, and fabrics other than linen began to be made from cotton and silk. It evolved into shirting pants, which in turn led to ankle-length tight-fitting underpants, called "johns" after the 19th-century boxer John Sullivan, who loved to fight in tight-fitting underpants.

In 1935

Jockey sold the world's first pair of boxer briefs in Chicago with a Y-stitched front panel. The boxer brief, which allowed men to expose as much leg as possible, is considered by clothing historians to be as significant as the bra. 30,000 pairs of boxer briefs were sold in the US in three months, and Jockey rushed to produce a "masculine" line, which was sent by airplane to shopping malls across the US. The competition between boxer shorts and briefs began, with both sides claiming to be healthier and more comfortable. During this period, elastic bands were sewn into briefs, and the word "brief" was added to the lexicon.

After the end of World War II

Men's underwear came in colors and patterns, and emerging fabrics such as rayon, polyester, and Lycra added tightness and elasticity to the underpants, while trunks were more concise in style. In the UK, skinny jeans were popular in the 70s, and boxer briefs momentarily triumphed over boxer briefs.

In the 80s

Levi's jeans started the boxer brief trend. British model and pop star Nick Kamen shot the brand's most famous ad for Levi's 501 jeans. In the laundromat, Nick sat in front of the washing machine wearing only a pair of briefs, but he was wearing white cotton boxer briefs without a Y-frame. Women were incited to buy back dozens of boxer briefs, as if their man had become the lovable Nick in boxer briefs. Emerging designers such as Paul Smith also began designing boxer briefs, and of course his briefs were not without their rainbow stripes. Like Smith's jacket, boxer briefs have become the line of yuppies; and men who wear boxer briefs will always be mama's boy, see how much the boxer briefs with Y-stitching look like baby diapers! The fashionization of underwear gave men their first attitudinal inclination towards this little garment. Initially men's underwear only highlights the promotion of practicality and health, the fashion industry and gay men gave the men's underwear market colorful, more thongs, low-rise pants and other offensive styles.

In the 1990s

Kate Moss and rock star Marky Mark did a heavily criticized underwear campaign for Calvin Klein. The brand's logo is clearly visible on the elasticized hem of the white briefs, which appear outside the waistband of his jeans. 2008 saw the popularity of super-short boxer briefs, with Bj?rn Borg's model, which have a leg length of just 25 centimetres.

21st century

1999 Taiwan King style patented sac underwear inventor Mr. Kang Jiaming, due to the underwear factor led to long-term infertility after marriage, and for the lack of improvement of the traditional men's underpants dissatisfaction, and so from the characteristics of the physiological structure of the men's underpants to design men's underpants ventilation and breathable, comfortable. The design of the underwear not only has a special scrotal pouch to make the scrotum ventilated and breathable to keep it dry, but also to avoid friction and extrusion between the scrotum and the thighs, with its unique positioning of the JJ upward and downward in 2 basic models. The man's scrotum and JJ placed in isolation, JJ erection can also be positioned along the way, three openings are not only ventilated and dry, peeing is super convenient. In the past men's underwear only from the design of the color fabric and ignore the physiological characteristics of men's design can be called an innovative breakthrough.