In the Mood for Munsingwear

Minnesota's Claim to Underwear Fame Author Susan Marks Minnesota Historical Society Press (April 1, 2011) A peek under the fabric of American life with one of the country’s most successful manufacturers of intimate apparel. Description At a time when polite society wouldn’t dream of hanging women’s and men’s underwear on the same clothesline, a Minnesota manufacturer dared to advertise the unmentionable. “Don’t Say Underwear,” crowed the ads, “Say Munsingwear!” Consumers of the 1890s responded. The company’s wildly popular “itchless” union suits represented a truly revolutionary advance. When fashion and central heating changed the market, Munsingwear offered silk and nylon stockings, “stretchy-seat” briefs for men, and the essential Foundettes, the Spanx of its generation. Erotic ads showed underwear-clad women (or men) in provocative poses with promising captions: “Half-pint pants,” “Next Best to Nothing.” And by the 1940s and ’50s, Munsingwear was selling risqué lingerie in its fa