[1] 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 came to Minnesota to set up his factory, which manufactured products for women and men, because it was in the coldest region of the U.S., and the market for warm underwear presumably was going to be the best there.
[1] 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.
[4] 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.
[7] The cream-colored garment became iconic and was featured in the company's advertising, with children and adults outfitted in them; underwear ads had never used live models before.
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.
[14] Munsingwear 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);[15] an orchestra, which performed during Thursday lunch breaks; an on-site gymnasium; sports teams;[16] and other benefits.
[2][17][18] Its flagship product of recent years, patented in 1943,[19] was the "Kangaroo brief", featuring a horizontal fly and a contoured pouch, as seen in an advertisement showing all its styles of men's underwear available in 1969.
[23] Following World War II, the United States sued Munsingwear for alleged violations of a price-fixing regulation, seeking, in separate counts, an injunction and treble damages.
"[27] In 1967, production operations were moved from Chicago to Paris, Texas,[26] and as of 2010, the Vassarette name is owned by Vanity Fair Brands and produces women's underwear.