As I type, low-wage workers in the Israel, Spain, China, the Maldives, India and probably a number of other places (these were the places represented on the “Made In …” tags on previously purchased underwear from a certain lingerie store in my unmentionables drawer) are working feverishly to sculpt the perfectly fitted bra and underwear for yours truly. I cannot tell you how excited I am for these newly minted unmentionables to arrive as my existing items are either stretched out from pregnancy or were not fitting correctly with “ahem” post-pregnancy changes in body shape and size.

As a side note, if I was one of the aforementioned factory workers constructing underwear as my full-time job, I want to be the factory worker in the Maldives! I mean, sure it would suck having to leave paradise to punch the time clock and start sewing women’s panties, but at the end of the day, you get to go back out into paradise and have your dinner under a coconut tree and scoop the innards of a passion fruit into your mouth.  Do you think they look at that way?

Speaking of working at low wage factories, have you heard the recent news story about the FoxConn factory in China who manufactures parts for many US companies including Apple, HP and many other companies?

Apparently there have been a rash of suicides so the companies who use FoxConn are investigating.  (Sad!) Andy was in China last week himself and he was talking with one of the local engineers about what he had read in the paper. The newspaper said that this company has 400,000 workers at its manufacturing facilities near Shenzhen. Sure that it was a typo, Andy asked the engineer about the number. The engineer confirmed FoxConn HAS FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND workers in one place.  They call it FoxConn City.  Can you imagine?

I was amazed previously when at the NSBE convention, I met two employees of the Wal-Mart corporate offices in Bentonville, Arkansas where Wal-Mart employs over half of the 33,744 inhabitants of the city.  FoxConn takes this to such a grander scale I cannot even imagine it.

Unmentionables, large corporate offices and manufacturing plants…where was I going with this?  Oh yes I now remember the point.  The bra has recently celebrated its 100 year anniversary.  Wow!  Has it only been that long?

Apparently the contraption us ladies rely on so heavily was invented in 1910 by a New York socialite who was disgruntled with whale-bone corsets.  Well who wouldn’t be?  From the song Otto Titsling (one of the best songs ever, from the movie Beaches), I thought that bras were invented by poor Otto, a German inventor and lover of the opera.  According to the song, he invented the modern foundation garment, the “titsling” or “over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder” only to have his invention stolen by Philip DeBrassiere who was hiding under the bed while the original model for the titsling tried on Otto’s invention.  Later that night, while the opera singer slept, he fumbled through her wardrobe and stole the invention convinced he was going to make millions of dollars (or francs) from it.

And if you are wondering how the story ends, as the song says, “Do you buy a titsling or do you buy a brassiere?”

Even though I sometimes have a love/hate relationship with my bra, I cannot imagine life without it.  And I am ecstatic for my new ones to arrive.  After ten months of pregnancy and thirteen months of breastfeeding, I figure I deserve them!

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