Underoos were the brainchild of Fruit of the Loom, and starting in 1978, these sets of fantasy underwear made it possible not only to believe you were Batman but to look like him too.
Built for both boys and girls, Underoos featured a two-piece set of tops and bottoms designed like your favourite characters. They were “the underwear that’s fun to wear.”
Girls had tank tops and panties (Supergirl even featured a daring midriff-style tank), boys had T-shirts and briefs, but both were filled with fashion and fun.
Underoos were made to be worn as underwear, but the colourful outfits were such a hit, other clothes completely lost their appeal.
Kids terrorised the neighbourhood, shameless in their underpants, battling it out as Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker, or Wonder Woman vs. Josie and the Pussycats.
Some were really cool and made you look just like a superhero, but others just pasted a decal of what you were supposed to be on the front of the shirt.
Underoos were the creation of Larry Weiss, a former product manager for Post Cereal. The name “Underoos” came from his young son, who called out the name while watching his dad whip up concept sketches of the product.
Weiss pitched Underoos to both Hanes and Scott Paper but neither of those corporations could see the appeal of superhero costumes for children (!).
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