Batman, Superman, SpongeBob SquarePants, Homer Simpson, Darth Vader — these are household faces on underwear garments that hang in store clothing departments like colorful flags. But as Valentine’s Day rolls around, these friendly clothing caricatures are replaced with pink and red heart undergarments.
Underwear is an important commodity, evidenced by the fact that there’s an entire Wikipedia entry on briefs. (No, really; go look for yourself.) But why are briefs called briefs?
The story begins with pugilists, the fancy term used for professional fighters who practice combat for sport and continuously whack at each other with puffy colored gloves.
Originally, fighters had to wear leather-belted trunks during their fights. In 1925, however, James Golomb designed the revolutionary elastic-waist trunks to replace the leather belts. These new elastic-waist trunks were an immediate hit and came to be called boxers, named after the pugilists who used them.
That is, the origin of the word “boxers” originally referred to the fighters who wore them during competition. Boxers were later sold to the public as underwear, and as you know, are still used today.
Briefs are slightly younger than boxers, and were first sold by Coopers, Inc. in 1935, a decade after the creation of boxers, in Chicago, Ill. (So, on top of being the Windy City, Chicago can now claim to be the “Birthplace of the Brief,” a most-esteemed title.)
They were initially called “jockeys,” referring to the slang term “jocks” for athletes, and were advertised as the perfect underwear for athletes because they allegedly increased mobility. Later on, these “jockeys” were called “briefs” because they were considerably shorter and “briefer” than boxers.
And so it was that the great rivals of the world of men’s underwear were born.
Underwear carries a hefty historical significance as well. In fact, underwear was so important that, along with the rest of the gold and priceless fineries that King Tut’s tomb was discovered to contain, archaeologists also found an expansive collection of linen loincloths, evidently included so that King Tut could enjoy his afterlife in underwear style.
Even more interesting were male underwear standards in 16th century England. At the time, the famous King Henry VIII (you know, the one who chopped off his wives’ heads) suffered from a genital disease called syphilis. In order to relieve the pain, he wore a large external pad over his genitals called a “codpiece,” which was soaked in medications for the disease.
Other gentlemen began to notice the King’s enlarged codpiece…and it became, as they say today, “all the rage,” the new fashion statement of 16th century male nobility.
English nobles began to compete to see who could wear the largest padded codpieces, and subsequently, the codpieces increased in size until the end of the 16th century, when someone probably finally realized that codpieces were getting sort of ridiculous.
But before that, codpieces became so commonplace that special clothing was made so that the codpieces were also fashioned to hold items as well as portray power. Thus, the codpiece pocket was born.
Good thing that didn’t stick around. Consider how awkward it would be to carry around a cellphone in a codpiece today, especially if you were to set your phone on vibrate.
Even by modern-day standards, underwear is still a big deal. Major League Baseball umpires are mandated to wear black underwear while on the job.
Underwear today has been drifting toward an almost iconic status in some perspectives. One online underwear company known as Freshpair began its very own National Underwear Day in 2003 to celebrate the garment.
National Underwear Day is celebrated Aug. 5 with celebrity appearances and underwear “demonstrations” in New York City, as well as free giveaways of over 5,000 pairs of underwear. The day also finds numerous participants from all over the country wearing underwear over their normal clothes to express their solidarity with the cause of National Underwear Day.
In Freshpair President Matthew Butlein’s words, “Underwear should no longer be merely the first thing you put on and the last thing you take off, but the most important thing you wear all day.” Very poetic.
Kevin Hwang is a junior at Athens High School, takes classes at Ohio University and is a columnist for The Post. Email him at kh319910@ohiou.edu.
