Hanes

Hanes is an American underwear and hosiery brand from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, built from two knitting firms started by the brothers John Wesley Hanes and Pleasant H. Hanes in 1900 and 1901. It makes men's and women's underwear, bras, panties, T-shirts and socks for the budget end of the market, and it gave the world L'eggs, the pantyhose sold in a plastic egg. Since December 2025 Hanes and its parent, Hanesbrands, have belonged to the Canadian apparel maker Gildan.

Two brothers, two mills in Winston-Salem

The two businesses that carry the name were founded within a year of each other in Winston-Salem. In 1900 John Wesley Hanes started Shamrock Knitting Mills, which became Hanes Hosiery Mills and concentrated on stockings. In 1901 his brother Pleasant H. Hanes founded the P. H. Hanes Knitting Company, which made knit underwear for men.

For more than 60 years the two companies ran side by side under the same surname without being one business: one in hosiery, one in underwear. They finally merged in 1965 as the Hanes Corporation, and in 1979 the combined company was bought by the Sara Lee Corporation.

L'eggs and the supermarket aisle

The most original thing Hanes did for women's underwear was a retail idea, not a garment. In 1969 Hanes launched L'eggs, a line of pantyhose sold in drug stores and grocery stores rather than in department-store hosiery departments. The executive behind it, Robert Elberson, wanted pantyhose to be something a woman could pick up with the weekly shopping.

The packaging made the idea work. Roger Ferriter of the design firm Herb Lubalin Associates created the egg-shaped plastic container, and Fred Howard designed the tall in-store display stands. Hanes sold the stock on consignment, with women drivers restocking the stands and tracking inventory through computer systems, which was unusual for 1970. The results were striking: L'eggs sales rose from about $9 million in 1970 to about $110 million in 1973, and by 1977 the brand held about 15 percent of the US hosiery market.

The plastic egg was retired in 1991 under environmental pressure and replaced with a recyclable cardboard pack in the same shape. Around the same time demand for pantyhose began to fall as office dress codes relaxed. L'eggs held its share in a shrinking market, but the business was cut back.

Hanes Her Way and the women's range

Women's underwear became a separate line with Hanes Her Way, introduced in 1985. It carried the logic of the men's business, everyday knits at low prices, over to women's underwear. That is still the shape of the women's range: panties, bras and bodywear, largely in cotton and cotton blends, sold on comfort and price rather than on fashion. Styles run from full briefs to the bikini brief.

The brand's best-known advertising of the 2000s was aimed at men. Michael Jordan appeared as a spokesman from 2005 onward, including campaigns for the Tagless T-shirt line, in which the printed neck label replaced the scratchy sewn tag. Jackie Chan appeared in the same campaigns.

Hanesbrands, from Sara Lee to Gildan

In September 2006 Sara Lee spun off its apparel business as Hanesbrands Inc., a separate public company headquartered in Winston-Salem. Its portfolio reached well beyond the Hanes name: Hanes, Playtex, Bali, L'eggs, Maidenform, Wonderbra, Bonds and Berlei, among others.

Year	Event
1900	Shamrock Knitting Mills founded by John Wesley Hanes
1901	P. H. Hanes Knitting Company founded by Pleasant H. Hanes
1965	The two companies merge as Hanes Corporation
1969	L'eggs pantyhose launched
1979	Sara Lee acquires Hanes
1985	Hanes Her Way introduced
2006	Hanesbrands spun off from Sara Lee
2024	Champion sold to Authentic Brands Group for $1.2 billion
2025	Gildan completes acquisition of Hanesbrands on December 1

Much of the production has been in El Salvador for more than 30 years, where Hanes reported producing about 82 million meters of fabric a year as of 2023.

The Gildan deal, valued at about US$2.2 billion, ended Hanesbrands' life as an independent company. The museum archive holds no Hanes products at present, which fits a brand that has rarely tried to be fashionable. Its contribution to the history of underwear is distribution: it put pantyhose in a supermarket egg and everyday cotton underwear on mass-market shelves, and both ideas outlived the firms that had them.

Last updated October 7, 2026