JAPAN: Lingerie maker calls female loincloth underwear the "ultimate liberation item" for women

Record ID: 467183

  • Title: JAPAN: Lingerie maker calls female loincloth underwear the "ultimate liberation item" for women
  • Date: 30th March 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS LOINCLOTH UNDERWEAR ON DISPLAY WITH STAFF LIFTING UP FRONT FLAP OF ONE TO SHOW UNDERNEATH (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TOMOKA OKAMURA, MERCHANDISE DIRECTOR FOR "NANAFUN"-BRAND LOINCLOTH UNDERWEAR, SAYING: "We wanted young women to have more of a sense of freedom and release. And as we tried to come up with the 'ultimate liberation item' for women, we thought of a 'fundoshi'." THREE LOINCLOTH UNDERWEAR WITH MATCHING BRAS ON DISPLAY WITH ONE BEING ROTATED TO SHOW BACK
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAK4C5UCKPFW1TJJSHT83WD39J
  • Story Text: What some consider the latest form of "women's liberation" is setting a new trend in Japan, where some women are ditching conventional, tight-fitting underwear and starting to wear free-fitting loincloths.
    Called "fundoshi" in Japanese, loincloths used to be the traditional underwear of adult males in old times, but largely disappeared from daily use after modern underwear such as briefs and trunks became widely available in the last century.
    However, loincloth underwear has recently made a comeback in Japan - this time among women - after Kyoto-based lingerie maker Wacoal launched a 21st-century version of a "women's lib" campaign that took inspiration from the nation's traditional "fundoshi."

    "It's easy to wear and is quite nice. It's also good for summer.
    And since it's getting warmer, I figured it would be good for that," said Hiromi Iwamura, a 28-year-old shopper who was buying a checked loincloth and bra at a lingerie shop in central Kyoto.
    Inventors of the female loincloth say the idea behind the underwear was to "emancipate" women from the "tightness" of conventional underwear that often use rubber and wires, as well as from the hassles of finding the right size.

    "We wanted young women to have more of a sense of freedom and release. And as we tried to come up with the 'ultimate liberation item' for women, we thought of a 'fundoshi,'" said Tomoka Okamura, merchandise director for Wacoal's Nanafun-brand female loincloths.
    The "fundoshi" for women comes in 7 different colors and 2 designs - plain and checked-pattern, with prices starting from 1,260 yen ($13 U.S. dollars).
    Wacoal has sold more than 5,000 pieces of the female "fundoshi" since December, three times more than the company had expected.
    The company is now planning to start selling the loincloths at its shops in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
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