Friday Whitey

Early union suits came loose on the merchant's shelf or wrapped in thin paper. But by the 1920s, the elegance of boxed underwear was considered a mark of distinction. Allen A even put a rather sophisticated paper band around it’s union suit before nestling it in watermarked tissue paper inside a box.



Packaging had its marketing uses, too. When Cooper Bennington union suits were $1.00 each, ads often insinuated some kind of bargain at $3.00 the box for 3 suits. Topkis even sold their suits by the half dozen ... at $6.00 the box!



An A-Shirt and Boxer ShortsBy the 1940s and 1950s, with the increased popularity of shorts and separate shirts, individual packaging in cellophane became the norm. The industry stalwarts ... Hanes and Jockey ... all bragged that they were "cellophane wrapped."



With the 1950s came the rise of the petrochemical industries ... and plastic. Mayo Spruce was a pioneer in the switch from cellophane to plastic. But plastic packaging became the gold standard for underwear merchandising when it was adopted by the incredibly successful Jockey brand by Coopers Inc.