Edible underwear
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The invention of edible underwear by David Sanderson and Lee Brady[1] originated in a 1975 late night conversation among friends sophomorically discussing colloquialisms in the English language, specifically a high school jock phrase “eat my shorts!” The inventors started the company Cosmorotics, Inc. to manufacture and market edible underwear under the name “candypants, the original 100% edible underwear.” At first the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied their request for a patent on the basis that the idea of candy and pants were mutually exclusive ideas, but later granted their requests and within weeks hundreds of thousands of pairs were manufactured and distributed out of their food manufacturing plant in Chicago, Il. The marketing of “candypants” crossed over into a number of different markets, from lingerie and clothing shops and major department stores to motorcycle shops, candy stores and chic emporiums. Its naughty innocence captivated the country at a time when color television, home movies and the sexual revolution were all beginning to reach the American middle class. The press found it an outrageous delight and news coverage pushed edible underwear into the national and world-wide limelight.[2]
Along with the mainstream business came the inquiries from a brand new market: adult bookstores selling sexually oriented books and magazines, film and novelties. The sexual revolution continued to grow and prosper. In two separate U.S.Supreme Court battles for First Amendment rights, edible underwear, as “Candypants”, was at the forefront, used as “Exhibit A” by the defense for Screw Magazine in their fight to stay on the newsstands despite their content and then again by the prosecution as “Exhibit A” to attempt to shut down the late night cable access TV show “Midnight Blue” in New York City[3]. At the same time author Jerzy Kosinski in his novel “Pinball” referred to it as the “essence of American freedom’ on the “Late Night with David Letterman” show.
Years later edible underwear continues to shock and amuse and its place in American mythology remains intact. People Magazine listed it among the 434 names and events that define pop culture.[4]
