Learning about Undergarments
Undergarments are not just about fabrics that are made to cover certain areas of the body. Many unique things can be known from it.
Definition
As everyone comprehends and also based on Wikipedia, undergarments or underwear is a category of clothing that is generally worn before wearing outerwear. Undergarments are usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may consist of more than one layer.
Undergarments function to keep outer clothing from getting dirty or damaged by the body’s excretory system, a process of removing metabolic waste substances (poisonous compounds) that are no longer beneficial to the body. Undergarments also serve to reduce outer clothing friction with the skin, to shape the body, and to cover or support the parts of the body.
Reporting from Tokopedia, underwear is separated into several styles and categorized based on the gender of the user. For women, several types of underwear that can be used consist of:
- Lingerie
A type of thin undergarments that some of which are transparent. Lingerie can be made using a variety of light and sheer fabrics, such as silk, lace, and satin. This type of underwear comes in several variants and is often used to attract the attention of the opposite sex. - High Waist Panties
A type of undergarment that is shaped like regular underwear that is tight but has a size that is long enough to cover the stomach area. The height of high waist panties is usually between 15 and 20 centimeters and is suitable for use by women who have a ‘curved’ body form. - Classic Thong
A kind of women’s underwear made of luxurious European microfiber. Made without producing rubber at the cut edges, these panties are comfy when wearing a dress or tight pants as they are excellent for minimizing the appearance of panty lines. - Top Shorts
A women’s underwear that is usually worn every day. Normally, top shorts are worn while relaxing at home, but this type can also be used as undergarments when wearing a skirt or dress. - Shapewear
For this one, it is very tight underwear that is suitable before wearing a shirt or dress that is quite ‘compact’. The type of shapewear varies and can be in the form of shorts or leggings to suit certain areas.
Meanwhile for men, as mentioned by kumparan.com, several types of undergarments made specifically for men with various benefits consist of:
- Brief
A type of triangular undergarments that covers the front space to the buttocks, but does not cover the thigh zone. Commonly used every day because of the comfort it provides, briefs come in three variants containing low brief, medium brief, and high-rise brief. - Boxer Brief
which are panties that cover half the thigh area, much like tight shorts. These comfortable undergarments worn by athletes carry a unique history because it was introduced by Calvin Klein, a famous fashion house from the United States (US), in 1992 through the use of a rapper named Marky Mark. Mark’s actual name is Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg, he is also a famous songwriter, actor, producer, businessman, and model. One of the biggest movies Wahlberg ever starred in was Transformers: Age of Extinction. - Boxer Short
One type of undergarments that was quite popular among men in the 1920s. These panties were designed by Jacob Golomb with the use of an elastic waist so that men can move more freely while wearing them. At least after 1985, boxer shorts are still often used by young people. - Trunks
is a blend of briefs and boxer briefs. This type of undergarment is similar in shape to the brief, but there is additional material that covers the thigh area and lower buttocks a little. Flexible trunks make men cozier when wearing them. Just like boxer briefs, these panties were popularized by Calvin Klein in 1999. - Jockstrap
One of the many undergarments that has a unique and different shape compared to other underwear. Jockstrap pants are specially designed for male athletes to protect their ‘future’. It has an elastic waistband with a sturdy designed front to fortify the male vital organs, the jockstrap has no textile on the back so it does not cover the buttocks. kumparan.com said that many soccer and martial arts athletes use jockstraps when exercising.
In addition to several of the conventionally shaped undergarments that have been described previously, some undergarments have unusual shapes. Based on Djawanews.com, some of many are half-thong style underwear and pinocchio underwear. Both panties are made for the male gender.
For half-thong, this type of undergarments uses an asymmetrical shape or what is commonly referred to as a C-shape G-string. Half-thong panties are similar to G-strings because they are also tucked in vital areas and do not hide areas that are usually covered by other kinds of underwear.
“When you wear it, you will look cute by your partner,” said Puspita Susanti as a contributor at Djawanews.com.
As for pinocchio, these are panties whose overall shape is more or less the same as men’s underwear in general. The only contrast is the existence of a long cloth in the front area which serves to ‘hide’ the male genitalia. Pinocchio’s underwear is usually furnished with animal eyes because the long cloth on the front looks like an animal’s nose. Pinocchio panties come in two different categories, the mesh pinocchio T-back and the pinocchio bikini.
Undergarments Industry
According to ReportLinker, a technology company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for business objectives, the global undergarment industry is currently estimated to be worth over 30 billion US dollars. The existing market includes a wide range of undergarments and intimate apparel, noting that bras account for more than 50 percent of the market, panties account for around 33 percent, and corsets account for more than 10 percent. Style, evolving clothing trends, and factors such as innovation as well as comfort are the main drivers of the improvement of the undergarment industry.
As ReportLinker said, one of the major changes that occurred in the undergarments industry compared to previous periods was the use of underwear which began to be worn as outerwear.
The undergarments industry is currently being informed that it is encountering serious challenges, one of which is the increasing trend of outsourcing production to low-cost countries. Outsourcing itself is an activity of using labor from third parties to complete certain jobs within the company. Even though underwear seems trivial, the market has stiff competition.
The aging population in advanced countries like the US is slowing down the pace of market growth. Thus, the growth potential of the undergarments industry lies more in developing countries due to rising income levels, trends in Western dressing, a larger number of young populations, and growing living standards. Underwear consumers tend to make purchases impulsively (acting on feelings), because they prefer factors other than life necessities, for example, style.
The sleepwear and the knitted-underwear market is calculated to have exceeded the 70 billion US dollars mark since 2015. Factors driving the increase in market worth consist of increased earnings available to spend, fabric innovation, and a greater variety of new styles. Europe Continent is the leading market for these types of products, with the US and Asia-Pacific next in line. Plus-size demand is increasing in the Western market alongside the normal demand for smooth intimate apparel.
“Sleepwear and knitted-underwear experiencing (or maybe, solve) the economic recession better than any other market segment because those two goods were needed more than the others,” said the author of ReportLinker for his report “Underwear Industry Overview: Get the Latest Lingerie Statistics & Trends”.
Regarding economic recession, it is a condition of decreasing Gross Domestic Product or GDP (the number of goods or services produced by production units in a certain period) in a country that lasts for more than two quarters (January to June) in a year, so that the country’s economic growth becomes negative.
The hosiery (a tight cloth used for feet) market is gauged to have exceeded the 20 billion US dollars mark since 2015. The hosiery in query includes several items consisting of tight pants, socks, leggings, and pantyhose (a thin cloth used to cover the area from the waist to the feet). There has been a change in the use of production machines which has resulted in increased productivity, with electronic knitting machines replacing mechanical knitting machines.
The US undergarments market has grown rapidly over the past two decades, conducted in part by the promotional campaigns of Victoria’s Secret, the largest US retailer for women’s underwear, which brought undergarment style to the spotlight and boosted the trend of loyalty or commitment in using a clothing brand. In addition, other retail outlets such as department stores or shopping centers are also initiating to enter the market, with customers starting to actively buy from sellers on the internet.
In China, the undergarment market has surpassed 16 billion US dollars since 2010. There is 20 percent market growth occurring annually. There, the underwear market has undergone quick expansion, with more than 10 thousand manufacturers functioning across mainland of China. The Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta are the regions that show the snappiest development in the world.
History
“Every garment has an effective purpose, but it can also be the vehicle of a message, or have a specific meaning. Underwear also has and has always had this dual value,” wrote Laura Paleari opening the contents of her article in The Italian Rêve, an independent online magazine brand from Italy built for those who are passionate about something out there.
Paleari explains that the first condition of undergarments has been attested to in ancient Egypt. Even so, the development of underwear emerged during Roman rule which took place in the Gli Azzurri nation, Italy, from 31 before Christ to 476 Anno Domini.
In the life of Roman society, grooming and cleaning the body to get ultimate results such as a toned and fit body has become a very important part of day-to-day activities. So that is why women in that era began wearing bras. At that time, the demonstration of women’s bodies became a means to show and highlight how superior their civilization was.
Furthermore, in the Middle Ages which lasted from the fifth to the 15th century, it seems that the undergarment that was in favor at that time was the brache, a panty reserved for men. Even so, Paleari mentioned that the detail came from an unsure origin. Meanwhile, women in the same period usually wear undergarments only during menstruation.
“It consisted of some kind of ancient dressing or even musk (Wikipedia calls it as the fragrance of musk deer. But perhaps a reference to clothing made of musk deer skin) to ‘stop’ the blood,” Paleari explains.
This procedure was common among aristocratic women (the sovereignty class), as less wealthy women could not afford the clothes. But due to malnutrition and poor hygiene, their menstrual schedules become very irregular and cause them to enter the menopause phase prematurely. Based on HealthReplies.com, menopause is the natural ending of the menstrual cycle which usually occurs in women aged 45 to 55 years. A woman can be stated to be in the menopausal phase if she has not menstruated for 12 consecutive months.
Later in the Renaissance period (14th to 17th centuries), the first generation of clothes, shirts, and knee-length panties for all sexes made its debut. The presence of these objects was accompanied by the inception of the garter, which is an accessory used by men to hold up their thin stockings or (usually long) socks. However, when garters began to be worn by women, they were immediately actively used to attract someone and began to be ornamented with a variety of ribbons and jewelry.
Then from the 1500s to the 1900s, at that time women’s lingerie was a set of clothes with a tight structure created to shape and transform the body so that it conforms to particular social and beauty standards. For example, the corset, which is still used for health purposes, was originally born to reach satisfying aesthetics. Over the centuries, corsets gained various shapes and sizes to adjust to changing dress standards.
According to Paleari, the 1900s was the era where the most major and sudden changes occurred in women’s clothing. One of the important figures that cannot be separated from this change is Caresse Crosby, an activist, publisher, and writer from the US who invented the bra as we know it today.
Paleari revealed, that nowadays, natural women’s undergarments are preferred. The use of women’s undergarments today has gone through customs with the undergarments themselves being more inclusive (open to anyone) and freer (referring to the freedom of use and variety) along with its soft, fresh materials, and the availability of options to choose the use of organic or sustainable fiber. In addition, everything related to lingerie began to no longer be hidden but exhibited at manifold clothing exhibitions. In fact, lingerie is commencing to be made to treat menstruation, along with the presence of sanitary napkins and tampons (cylindrical pads made of soft cotton) which are environmentally friendly as well as various types of undergarments with a myriad of innovations.
“Today, underwear has finally been cleared through customs, and it can be conceived as a means to express one’s personality, sensuality, and creativity in a personalized way. In fact, each of us feels comfortable and sexy in a different way and with very different garments.”
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