"A Brief and Fictional History of Underclothing" or "What the Well-dressed Person is Wearing Underneath"

Hubbard Bros
Specialist Manufacturers of Long Johns and Long Jerrys since 1450


The company, now a household name, had extremely humble beginnings. John and Jerry Hubbard started the enterprise in 1450, with only what they could get from selling their mother’s cupboard at an auction, by way of capital. That meagre amount proved just enough to get them going in order to manufacture what was, and still is, the last word in underthings.

Starting with private assignments for the many women they had known in their colourful past, their products grew in length and volume, until one day they had enough material to create leggings that covered the legs and vests that reached the waist.

John, the older brother, devoted himself to long, sensible, ankle-length coverings, called Long-Johns, and waist-length vests, both targeted principally at men who went to war and women who were less well-off or just preferred not to risk pneumonia for the infinitely less rewarding pleasure of pandering to their beaus.

The controversial initial designs, however, still managed to draw excellent prices from an ever widening circle of female customers, ranging from short-frocks to bed-pan age. These were continued under the supervision of the younger Hubbard, as Long-Jerrys*, now marketed almost exclusively to what they called the ‘more adventurous’ women - those that fancied designs that were (liberally to some, inappropriately to others) embellished with large amounts of lace and ribbon.

*spelled Lin'gerie by the Paris branch for marketing reasons