Despite persistent rumors that bloggers get everything for free, I buy my underwear just like everyone else (and put it on one leg at a time too). Mine is Zimmerli, which advertises itself as the world's finest and is certainly in that discussion when it comes to the knitted kind. I get it from New York's Kabbaz Kelly.
Well, Kabbaz sent me an order the other day with an extra box in the box (OK, bloggers do get some things for free) accompanied by a note that said simply, "You are not going to believe this stuff" (he used an earthier word than stuff but, as the saying goes, you get the picture).
Inside that box was something I had never seen before, that being an undershirt knitted from Sea Island cotton which, as you know, is extra long yarn grown in the Caribbean that is generally considered the best that cotton gets. The length of the fibers gives the Sea Island product a smoother feel that some say is comparable to silk.
Now I have no desire to get into advertising copywriter rhapsodies about it but the hand of that Zimmerli undershirt is comparable to my David and John Anderson Super 240s dress shirts and those are as nice as anything cotton on the planet. My next thought of course was for my wallet. That DJA shirting is also about as expensive as shirting can get and there was no reason to expect that Sea Island cotton underwear was going to be an affordable luxury by my standards.
Sure enough, at $165 for a tee shirt, the Sea Island Zimmerlis are too rich for my blood. They make the $87 Royal Classic Cotton Lisle shirts seem reasonable and I guess that is good. Even better, the briefs are not available in the model that I wear, which gives me another reason to classify Sea Island underwear as I do cashmere and silk socks. In other words, forget it exists Will.
Still, if you should have the opportunity to feel it, you are not going to believe this stuff.
Photo: Zimmerli
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5 comments:
I, for one, appreciate this insight into the clothes behind the clothes that maketh the man. More to the point, it answers the question I put in this forum a few days ago. It will perhaps be a relief, to some at least, that not everything is made to measure! Nevertheless, I think I'm still on a losing battle with my father-in-law, who remains conviced that English gentlemen wear tweed underpants.
beingmanly.blogspot.com
There are those who will be relieved to know that there are some luxuries that exceed even your bounds.
Personally, I appreciate your discussion of the fabrics, along with a mention of the cost.
Very enticing! However, at that price I figure it would be cheaper to hire a cute Japanese girl to massage my balls all day.
no, it wouldn't be cheaper.
my zimmerli underwear give me more pleasure than a japanese massage in any part of my anatomy.been a fan since the early 1980s.that said ,there have become horrendously expensive that i wear them till they become rags,literally,and the damn things still feel good!!!.i did have words with kabbazz who maintained that all zimmerli is swiss made.not true.the knitted ones are ,their regular boxers are eu made not swiss.shame zegna stopped their comparable make,they were close rivals.i cleared the sulka stock for a song before they went belly up so have enough for a lifetime.especially the way i wear them to death.
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