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Munsingwear was a Minnesota-based brand of underwear from which Original Penguin developed. The company was established as Northwestern Knitting Company.〔() International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 30. St. James Press, 2000〕 It also was known as PremiumWear.〔 ==History== The company was started by George D. Munsing, who came to Minnesota from New York in 1886 to set up a textile factory, along with Frank H. Page and Edward O. Tuttle from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.〔 Munsing had been superintendent of the Rochester Knitting Works and had experimented with knit fabrics and ribbing, developing a process to plate silk on wool,〔 thus making woolen long underwear, essential in cold climates, "itchless": much more comfortable. Munsing came to Minnesota to set up his factory, which manufactured products for both men and women, because it was in the coldest region of the U.S., and the market for warm underwear would presumably be best there.〔Henry Berry, review of Susan Marks, ''In the Mood for Munsingwear: Minnesota's Claim to Underwear Fame'', May 19, 2011, http://www.amazon.com/Mood-Munsingwear-Minnesotas-Claim-Underwear/dp/0873518225, retrieved 09/15/2014〕 Patent attorney Amasa C. Paul served as Northwestern Knitting Company's president when it was incorporated in February 15, 1887 and Munsing was vice-president.〔 The Northwestern Knitting Company's ad for its products in the September, 1897 issue of ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was the first to display underwear on a live model.〔Reproduced in Susan Marks, ''In the Mood for Munsingwear: Minnesota's Claim to Underwear Fame'', Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2011, ISBN 0873518225, p. 5〕 Munsing was a technologist and the company received several patents, including those for a crocheting machine in 1891 and a union suit in the early 1890s. The union suit was the company's flagship product until the 1920s,〔"Munsing Wear: An American Classic", http://www.dollhousebettie.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=0&lang=en&show=256, retrieved 9/15/2014〕 when central heating made it less useful;〔Marks p. 73〕 it was not discontinued until 1969.〔Barb Danson, "Munsingwear: A Brief History," ''Tonka Times'', September 2011, p. 37, http://www.qwsconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TT-Sept-2011-Munsingwear.pdf, retrieved 09/16/2014〕 The cream-colored garment became iconic and was featured in the company's advertising with children and adults outfitted in them. In 1894 Munsing left the company.〔 In 1923 the company went public and changed its name to Munsingwear, Inc.〔 At the time it was the largest manufacturer of underwear in the world.〔Marks p. 26.〕 Its slogan was "Don't say underwear, say Munsingwear".〔Evadene Burris Swanson, "Don't Say 'Underwear,' Say 'Munsingwear,"' ''Hennepin County History'', Winter 1987, pp. 3–19.〕 At its peak it was producing 30,000 garments per day.〔Danson, p. 35〕 Its knitting mill was the largest west of the Alleghany Mountains.〔Marks p. 23.〕 The company expanded into women's underwear in the 1920s, and starting in 1931 offered Foundettes, which used an elasticized yarn to produce a combination foundation garment that combined a brassiere and a girdle.〔Marks pp. 57-59 and 73-81〕 Munsingwear was the largest employer of females in the state of Minnesota; at one point 85% of its 3,000 employees were ladies.〔Sara Boyd, "Curiocity: ‘Underwear: A Brief History’ To Be Unveiled In May", CBS Minnesota, March 7, 2011, http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/03/07/curiocity-underwear-a-brief-history/, retrieved 09/15/2014〕 By the 1920s, in part trying to avoid unionization, Munsingwear offered many benefits, some quite progressive for the time. It had a health clinic staffed by a full-time nurse, with regular visits from general practitioners, otolaryngologists (because of air quality problems), dental assistants, and dentists. All of this care was free.〔Marks p. 36〕 Mungsingwear also offered access to health insurance, a branch of the Minneapolis Public Library which circulated 7,500 books a year, a large, fully staffed kitchen which provided lunches to the entire work force (in shifts),〔Marks p. 39〕 an orchestra which performed during Thursday lunch breaks, an on-site gymnasium, sports teams,〔Marks p. 40〕 and other benefits.〔〔 *Goetz, Katherine R., "Munsingwear", ''MNopedia'' (Minnesota Historical Society), http://www.mnopedia.org/group/munsingwear, retrieved 09/15/2014.〕〔Marks, pp. 39-43 and 48〕 Its flagship product of recent years, patented in 1943,〔http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=6&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=munsingwear&OS=munsingwear&RS=munsingwear, retrieved 09/17/2014〕 was the "Kangaroo brief", featuring a horizontal fly and a contoured pouch. For an advertisement showing all its styles of men's underwear available in 1969, see ().〔''St. Petersburg Times'', February 24, 1969, p. 3B.〕 In 1951 the company merged with the Vassar Swiss Underwear Company, which became the Vassar division of Munsingwear.〔Landmark Designation Report, Vassar Swiss Underwear Building, City of Chicago, 2008, http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/zlup/Historic_Preservation/Publications/Vassar_Swiss_Underwear_Co_Bldg.pdf, retrieved October 4, 2014.〕 In 1955 the company began producing its Grand Slam gold shirt, with a Penguin logo. In the 1960s and 1970s these were the best-selling golf shirts in the world. Munsingwear also added a line of women's golf, bowling, and fashion shirts.〔Marks, p. 99.〕 In 1991 the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. In 1996 it changed its name to PremiumWear, and focused on specialty markets. Premiumwear was in turn bought by the Canadian clothesmaker John Forsythe, which sought bankruptcy protection in 2013. The Munsingwear and Original Penguin brands are currently owned by Perry Ellis.〔Danson, p. 37〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Munsingwear」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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