Long underwear, also called long johns, or thermal underwear, is a style of two-piece underwear with long legs and long sleeves that is normally worn during cold weather. It offers an advantage over the one-piece union suit in that the wearer can choose to wear either the top, bottom or both parts depending on the weather. Long underwear is also less commonly known as long handles. It is commonly worn by people in cold countries.
Modern long underwear has largely supplanted the union suit. In the United States, it is usually made from a cotton or cotton-polyester-blend fabric with a box-weave texture, although some varieties are also made from flannel, particularly the union suit, while many newer varieties are made from polyester, such as the Capilene trade name.
European manufacturers use wool blends or even 100% wool, usually Merino or other high-quality wool. Some models might include a thin layer of polyester to transport moisture away from the skin. Wool, in addition to being fire retardant, provides highly effective insulation and will keep its insulating properties even when wet, as opposed to cotton.
The type known as "thermal underwear" is made from two-ply fabric of either a wool layer and an artificial fibre, only wool or – again mostly in the U.S. – two layers of only artificial fibres, which uses trapped body heat to insulate against cold air.
An adjustable two-piece design is credited to Canadian Frank Stanfield, a native of Truro, Nova Scotia, who patented his design on 7 December 1915. In 1898, Stanfield and his brother John had developed a product called Stanfield's Unshrinkable Underwear for Stanfield's, their garment manufacturing company.
Read more about Long Underwear: Etymology of "long Johns", History of Long Johns
Famous quotes containing the word long:
“Frequently also some fair-weather finery ripped off a vessel by a storm near the coast was nailed up against an outhouse. I saw fastened to a shed near the lighthouse a long new sign with the words “ANGLO SAXON” on it in large gilt letters, as if it were a useless part which the ship could afford to lose, or which the sailors had discharged at the same time with the pilot. But it interested somewhat as if it had been a part of the Argo, clipped off in passing through the Symplegades.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)