It all started with the humble loincloth back with the ancient Egyptians.

The Romans (both males and females) wore loincloths or shorts. In the middle ages men commonly adorned themselves with linen shorts.

Undergarments weren’t as popular with women until the 19th century when they often wore shifts under their dresses. This later evolved into corsets made from whalebone.

Do you know why we refer to a ‘pair’ of knickers? Because in the early 19th century women’s underwear was made up of two separate parts joined at the waist.

Later in the 19th century, underwear became a lot more trendy and complicated.

The first bra was crafted in 1913 by Mary Phelps and then everything got smaller, shorter and smaller still.

Boxer shorts came to the front line in 1940 and thongs took centre stage in the 1990s! Now we have almost too many options!

Now in the 21st century we find our shelves inundated with underwear choices.

For men, the common options are:

• Briefs
• Boxers
• Long Johns

With the more adventurous strings and jockstraps making an appearance too.

Women have much more choice, such as:

• Thongs
• Hipsters
• Bikinis
• Boyshorts
• G-strings
• Briefs
• High cuts
• Tanga brief
• Seamless briefs
• Control briefs

Being so close to your skin and intimate areas it’s really important to choose the best fabric for your underwear. We fully advocate merino wool but we’ll convince you a bit later on. For now we’re going to look at some popular choices on the market.

• Satin - Satin is pure luxury. It’s soft, delicate and really lightweight.
• Silk - Another fabric associated with extravagance. Silk is durable, soft and cool to the touch.
• Jersey - Springy and stretchy, jersey offers great support. It moves with the body beautifully providing great comfort.
• Cotton - A natural fibre so points from us! Cotton is breathable, soft and cooling.

Choice of fabric comes down to personal preference but we would always opt for durable comfort.