When you look at a pair of y front briefs, it all looks like a pretty simple concept doesn’t it– that’s because you wear these briefs every day of your life and they are a common place piece of clothing in our daily culture– we see them in our drawer, we see them advertised in the junk mail, we see them on bill boards, we see them in movies or television. And if you buy basic white ones from Hanes or Fruit of the Loom, you might pay as little as $2-3.00 for them. So what can be complicated about making them– they are so commonplace and so inexpensive. Ask the Chinese or Bangladeshi textile factory worker or surprisingly the Los Angeles garment district worker what it takes to make a pair of jockey shorts or tightie whities.
We did that– we interviewed Clarice, seamstress at a garment factory in Los Angeles and this is what we found out. She found it entertaining that people think its easy to make these things. First of all she said: you have to have a pattern and that pattern has be individualized for every size you are making. Men’s and boy’s briefs were once made in about 20 sizes by JC Penney now most manufacturers make at least 10 sizes so that means 10 patterns. Someone has to make a piece of paper for each panel of the brief so if you have a double back brief, it has a front panel, a back panel, a side panel, a crouch panel and these panels curve around the human form and have to meet each other perfectly –other wise you get a bad fitting brief. We have all had the experience of a brief that crawls up your butt– thats because the pattern was made wrong.
And of course before you can even make a size you have to have a design that everyone wants– a low rise brief, mid rise brief, full rise brief, bikini brief, thong brief etc. The cloth has to be selected: color, cotton or poly cotton or lycra or spandex. Then the design cut has to be appropriate for a man or for a boy. All this has to be worked out before the pattern is made. Before actual production can begin, the underwear company will want a sample made from their design to actually fit to the human body. Does the new brief provide the right and comfortable fit for the man or boy wearing them. Just because the designer liked the look and the pattern maker made it to what seemed the right size doesn’t mean it will actually fit and look good on a real underwear consumer.
Well these are just the first steps in the process. In future articles Clarice will fill us in on every step that it takes to make the underpants we call briefs.
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