Stretching Out and Snapping Back

The other day at work, I was in the bathroom when I heard the snap of elastic in the stall next to me.  “I wonder how people used to keep their underwear up before elastic was invented?” I wondered.  I have absolutely no idea where this sudden thought came from, or why I thought elastic might be an interesting blog topic, yet here we are.

I’m usually the first to say (as my brother often reminds me), “You don’t need to wonder about things anymore, just Google it.”  But regarding this particular item, I found it more amusing to wonder about it for a while than to run to the internet.  Did underwear have buttons before elastic?  Snaps?  Safety pins?  While I continued to ponder the wonders of elastic and began to consider other elastic items that folks might be loath to live without, I posed the following question to a few family members and friends.

Me:  If all the elastic in the world went slack tomorrow, what would you miss the most?

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Although a couple of the women initially mentioned hair fasteners, that thought was quickly abandoned in the spirit of having comfortable clothing.

Female family member 1:  Isn’t elastic what makes clothes comfy?

Female family member 2:  Well, clothes is a good one, however, I was thinking I wouldn’t mind not wearing a bra.

That seemed like such a popular idea with our ladies’ group that I posed a new question.

Me:  Would you give up all elastic in your clothing so you don’t have to wear a bra, or would you put up with wearing a bra so that you can have elastic in your undies and your pajama bottoms?

Female family member 2:  OK, I will wear a bra if it means I can keep elastic in my pajama bottoms and underwear.  How do you hold up your underwear if you don’t have elastic?

Exactly!  And we were back to my original question.  But then someone decided it was time for the research.

Female family member 3:  In the 1940s manufacturers such as Hanes began to replace cinch ties and button yokes with elastic waistbands.

So now we know.  Drawstrings and buttons.  On underwear!

Not only were the women in my family concerned about not having elastic in their underwear, so were the men.  It was the first answer most everyone came up with.  I’m not sure if elastic-banded underwear is universally revered, or if our family has an unusually strong Pavlovian response to the thought of life without it, but suffice it to say, it was hands down the biggest worry expressed about an elastic free world.

That’s not to say there weren’t other concerns. In addition to hair ties, socks were mentioned. I remember wearing knee socks when I was a kid, and slouchy socks were definitely a bummer. My son mentioned fitted bed sheets. Heck yeah! I can think of very few things more aggravating than an ill-fitted bottom sheet. I hate having to reposition the bottom bed sheet in the morning, or even worse being awakened in the night because a poorly fitted corner not only quit hugging the mattress, but now it wants to wrap itself around me.

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Rubber bands are the ‘original’ elastics, but I can’t say I use them much as an adult.  My mom always had a box of rubber bands in her desk, and it seems we used them for a lot of things.  However, looking back, aside from holding together a deck of cards, I can’t think of anything.  And although nobody I talked to mentioned Bungee cords, I would consider them pretty essential.  Who doesn’t have a box of bungee cords hanging out in the garage?

Non-essential, but speaking of elastic, does anybody remember Super Elastic Bubble Plastic?  I had some when I was a kid.  Manufactured by Wham-O, it was soft plastic that came in a metal tube, sort of like acrylic paints.  You squeezed a small blob out of the tube, stuck it on the end of a straw, and blew a bubble.  The bubbles were stronger than the soapy-type bubbles you blow through plastic bubble wands, but it wasn’t as strong as a balloon. 

One time after blowing a Super Elastic bubble, I dropped the plastic straw onto the lid of my mom and dad’s new stereo console. When I picked up the straw, it had left a small gooey smudge that hardened into an epoxy scab that couldn’t be chipped off the wood without removing the faux woodgrain finish. Mom and Dad were none too pleased. This is not one of the happier memories of my childhood.

Today, when I was looking for info on Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, I found this product information on Wikipedia.

Chemically, the bubbles contained polyvinyl acetate dissolved in acetone, with ethyl acetate plastic fortifiers added. The acetone evaporated upon bubble inflation leaving behind a solid plastic film.  Besides the potential for spills when liquid plastic was handled by children, the substance also emitted noxious fumes. 

That was considered good, clean fun for kids in the 1970s.

I have a friend who, now that she has discovered them, wouldn’t want to live in a world that doesn’t have elastic edge bowl covers.  I call them shower caps for food.  Another friend, who is a huge fan of the Olympics, makes me wonder about athletic wear.  What would the ladies gymnastics team wear if they didn’t have leotards?  The men’s swim team with no Speedos?

Which leads me to my final thought for the day.  With an entire generation of women wearing leggings (my friends and I have clearly lost the leggings-are-not-pants battle), I’d love to know what these women would be wearing without the wonderful invention of elastic.