Jockey Celebrate’s 75 years of Whitey Wighty’s!
Found this article here -
Just thought I would bump up my blog!
Join the party!
They gathered, they looked at the camera, and they said, “Briefs!”
What else would you say when the occasion is a group photo of the 350 employees of Jockey International Inc., marking the 75th anniversary of the invention of men’s briefs?
Tighty-whiteys? In these fashionable times, men are wearing at least as much color as white under their clothes, according to Sally Tomkins, Jockey senior vice president of design.
Men’s underwear has come a long way since the 1934 introduction of briefs by Jockey. The style was considered daring at the time, an era when guys had a choice of boxer shorts and union suits.
Briefs were invented after an executive of the company, which was then known as Coopers Inc., received a postcard from the French Riviera showing a man wearing a bikini-style swimsuit. The executive, Arthur Kneibler, thought the style would work as underwear.
The Jockey brief was first sold at Marshall Fields in Chicago on Jan. 19, 1935. It was a sellout, in spite of a blizzard that day.
Coopers Inc. changed its name to Jockey in 1971.
The celebration at the company’s Kenosha headquarters included a ceremonial signing by employees of several pairs of the largest briefs Jockey makes (waist size: 60), and the group photo. Everyone received free mini-brief key rings and folding chairs.
“It’s exciting,” said owner and Chief Executive Debra Waller.
Jockey’s celebration comes at a time when men’s underwear has gained attention as an economic indicator.
A report on National Public Radio earlier this year discussed the theory voiced by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan: Underwear is the first place where a man will cut back in tough times because no one sees it. So a drop in sales of men’s underwear would be a sign that the economy is in trouble.
If that’s true, better times may be just ahead. A report from the NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y., for the first half of 2009 shows male underwear is one of the only categories of apparel that went up in sales, up 4.8 percent.
It helps to have a big brand name, Waller said. But she’s not happy that some refer to all briefs as “Jockey shorts” – not all are Jockey, she fretted.
A 2008 report from NPD Group showed that sales of briefs represent just 25 percent of all men’s underwear bottoms sold that year.
Boxer briefs are the biggest trend now, designer Tomkins said.
Tomkins gets a lot of feedback from consumers.
“People love to talk about their underwear,” she said.
Betsy Morton, senior vice president of human resources, agreed that it’s sort of an occupational hazard.
“It’s amazing how many people will talk about their underwear,” Morton said. “They show it to us.”
