Ottawa Citizen

Briefs by the numbers

By: Greg Morago

August 16, 2003 Saturday Final Edition

We don't know about you, but stifling, sticky weather makes us wish we could go out wearing only our scanties. Donning layers of clothing during this summer of heat and humidity makes as much sense as a recall election with nearly 200 candidates.

This week, as temperatures hit 30 C and the air was sticky, 20 underwear models were canvassing New York hotspots for signatures on a petition to make Aug. 13 National Underwear Day. The models were working for Freshpair.com, an intimate apparel retailer interested in focusing attention on the importance of underwear. According to Freshpair.com, Americans spend more than $12 billion U.S. a year on undies. That's a lot of fresh pairs of boxers, briefs and panties.

In fact, so excited was the retailer about promoting a day to celebrate bras and boxers that it compiled a list of statistics about underwear in our lives. Here's the skinny on skivvies and such:

30: Percentage of men who prefer boxers.

31: Percentage of men who prefer briefs.

21: Percentage of men who prefer thongs.

1913: The year the modern bra was invented by New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob, who took two handkerchiefs, ribbon and some cord and devised a simple backless brassiere that she patented a year later.

8,600,000,000: Number of U.S. dollars American women spend annually on underwear.

3,400,000,000: Number of U.S. dollars American men spend annually on underwear.

26.3: Percentage of women's underwear sold in Canada that is bought at Sears.

12.5: Percentage of women's underwear sold in Canada that is bought at Wal-Mart.

6.4: Percentage of women's underwear sold in Canada that is bought at La Senza.

360: Size panty the Statue of Liberty would need for her 35-foot waist.

52: Percentage of women who prefer panties.

31: Percentage of women who prefer thongs.

1934: The year of the first significant advancement in men's underwear technology: the creation of the Jockey Y-vent brief.

660,000,000: Approximate number of men's briefs (size large) needed to cover Manhattan.

1791: The year the term "drawers" originated, from the drawstring sewn into underpants.

45: Percentage of men who would like to wear G-strings but never have.

73: Percentage of men who say they have tried on women's underwear.

Greg Morago writes for the Hartford Courant.