BVD was a brand of men's underwear, which are commonly referred to as "BVDs." The brand was founded in 1876 and named after the three founders of the New York City firm Bradley, Voorhees & Day (thus "B.V.D."). The term came to be used, however incorrectly, for any underwear in the style popularized by BVD. The BVD brand, originally produced for men and women, is now produced solely for men by Fruit of the Loom.
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History
BVD first manufactured bustles for women. They then became famous for their men's union suits made of heavy knitted fabric. In 1908, that bulky and tight fitting garment was turned into a new kind of loose fitting underwear. They went on to introduce a two-piece and the popular union suit, as well as a lightweight waffle-like fabric with the advertising slogan, "Next to Myself I Like BVD Best."
At the beginning of the 1930s BVD was purchased by the Atlas Underwear company of Piqua, Ohio. During the Great Depression they were successful in manufacturing swimsuits for men, women and children. They patented their own fabric, Sea Satin, a rayon woven satin backed with latex for stretch. They also used knits of cotton, wool and Rayon, and cellophane. Their swimsuits featured in major fashion magazines and high fashion stores. Styles included form fitting maillots as well as full skirted swimsuits. They offered suits for men with detachable tops. In 1929, Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who went on to become the most famous Tarzan in motion pictures, was hired as a model and representative. He was featured at swim shows throughout the country wearing the BVD brand of swimsuits, handing out leaflets and giving autographs.
In 1951, the brand was purchased by Superior Mills. BVD was first to start packaging underwear in plastic bags for the mass market. In the 1960s and 1970s, they started introducing sportops, a pocket T-shirt, and fashionable underwear made of nylon. In 1976, BVD was purchased by Fruit of the Loom, which brought the brand to a worldwide market. On April 9, 2002, Berkshire Hathaway purchased Fruit of the Loom.
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In other languages
In Ecuadorian and Peruvian Spanish, the term bividí, pronounced like the English initials, is an eponym for a man's sleeveless underwear T-shirt.
In popular culture
On the TV show MadTV, during the Depressed Persian Tow Truck Man skit, Mofaz is only allowed to board a plane if he has everything confiscated except his briefs he has on. Mofaz declares "They took my everything except for my body hair and BVDs!"
The Bob Rivers song parody Didn't I Get This Last Year? mentions BVDs as one of the titular undesirable gifts.
Charlie McCarthy with Edgar Bergen rewrite the lyrics to "The Night Before Christmas" mentioning Santa as "The jolly fat man with the red BVDs."
The satirical song writer Tom Lehrer refers to "lead BVDs" in his song about nuclear testing in the Southwestern US, "The Wild West Is Where I Want To Be."
Fanny Brice refers to her husband's BVDs in an argument about his pyjamas in the film Funny Lady
Notes
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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