19 Underwear Facts To Fill Your Brain with Useless Knowledge
Ever sat down and thought “man, what would my life be like if I knew everything there was to know about underwear?” No? Ok, well, maybe you haven’t (weird). We’ll accept that, but we’re still going to pump your beautiful brain full of all sorts of underwear facts from the ether. Did you know that once upon a time, people thought dirty underwear could grow mice? Or that according to George Lucas, there’s no underwear in space? If you’re a member, you might already know the best fact about underwear (don’t worry, we’ll reveal it below).
That all being said, it’s time to make room in that old head space of yours for some brand new, brain-bending knowledge. Read on for 19 underwear facts you never knew until you knew.
The very first men’s brief was invented in 1935. Reviews mentioned their “scientific suspension” and “restful buoyancy” as key features.
A 10-year-old by the name of Jack Singer wore 215 pairs of underwear all at once in 2010, breaking the previous record of 200.
King Tut is short for Tutankhamen, the Egyptian leader who ruled from ages 9-18—and was buried with 145 pairs of underwear.
Once upon a time (before the 1800’s), it was believed that pairing dirty underwear with wheat grains in a bucket would “generate” mice. This supported the idea of “spontaneous generation”—that life could be created from nonliving objects.
Italian women like to ring in the New Year wearing red underwear—it’s considered lucky.
A pair of Queen Victoria’s underwear, featuring yards of white cream fabric and her embroidered initials (VR), recently sold at auction for $14,500.
Women didn’t wear underwear until much later than men—it was long considered inappropriate for them to wear anything in between their legs. Instead, 19th-century women wore heavy petticoats to prevent cold breezes from blowing up their skirts (and were stuck riding sidesaddle).
American settlers would often sew up their underwear for the winter to avoid trying to button them with frozen fingers. Unfortunately, this meant they didn’t bathe until spring.
In 1780, Marie Antionette shocked French courts by wearing a chemise dress, which previously had only been used as underwear.
Siberian kindergartners have a habit of running outside in their underwear to dump freezing water on themselves—they believe it will strengthen their immune systems
After disguising himself as a chimney sweep, a 14-year old boy snuck into Queen Victoria’s Buckingham palace and ran away with her underwear.
The British Army issues antimicrobial underwear that can be worn for three months at a time.
Carrie Fisher never wore underwear while filming Star Wars because George Lucas convinced her there is no underwear in outer space.
Major League Baseball umpires are required to wear black underwear—just in case they split their pants.
It is illegal in Thailand to leave your house without underwear.
The Wright Brothers used muslin on the wings of their very first plane—a fabric previously used primarily for women’s underwear.
Before air conditioning, many people had a simple solution for keeping cool: storing their underwear in the freezer.
15% of women own underwear that’s between 5 and 9 years old, while 9% of men own pairs over 10 years old.
Brand new, incredibly soft underwear has the ability to magically appear at your door every single month. Which is a pretty great solution for #18, and possibly the best underwear fact of all time (if we had to pick).