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About the Serigena™ 100% Natural Silk Long Pant Underwear – Women’s

When it comes to layering, what can beat the exceptional softness, luxurious feel, and thermal insulating effectiveness of the Serigena™ 100% Natural Silk Long Pant Underwear- Women’s. Its styling and Silk composition makes it easy to wear, easy on the eye, and perfectly suited for layering for a range of temperatures. These features along with styling makes it the perfect ‘go to’  long pant underwear base layer  under many outfits in the wardrobe.  

Made from Mulberry Silk – the Gold Standard Silk Filament, processed into the four way stretch Gold Standard Baselayer Fabric that moves with you. Silk that is Honest, Elegant, & Timeless™. Choose from white (natural) for a close to pearl white color, or black with its dark silky sheen – or get both – to suit your wardrobe. Select Superior Comfort™.

Low Bulk – Warmer by weight™

Weight for weight, Silk is considered a more effective thermal insulator than any other natural or synthetic fiber, making it the ideal bulk free next to skin layer. Our Silk garments are styled for a relatively snug – close to body fit, with ample four way stretch that moves with you. Their thermoregulation properties maximize your comfort, and our smooth Silk will protect your skin from harsher fabrics in your upper layers, and reduce wear on them.

Silk has the capacity to absorb up to 30% of its own weight in moisture without feeling wet, and wick it away, which means you feel more comfortable, and there will be less likelihood that perspiration will wet the surface of outer garments. Silk is also relatively inhospitable to the biome that develops on skin and perspiration, so it won’t quickly accumulate and hold body odor like many other fabrics. Its low bulk and snug fit keeps its form discreet under close fitting clothing. These features make our undershirt the smart choice under body hugging, and tailored clothing.

Multi Season Comfort

Silk fabrics are warm to wear through the cool seasons – autumn (fall), winter, and spring, and comfortable when the days warm in temperate climates. This makes them ideal for year round use, even on the summer days that start cool and slowly warm. Silk’s insulating properties help trap warmth close to the skin when its cold, and help mediate the temperature close to the skin when the sun comes out and warms things up.

Warm when its Cool – Comfortable when it Warms™

Enjoy Silk’s well earned reputation for being light and warm in winter. The thick structure of our interlock – double jersey knit provides both warmth and comfort. Its thermal insulation property – its low thermal conductivity – functions best when you need it the most – when the air is cold and dry. Micro pockets of air trapped within its fibroin fibers insulate and slow the loss of body heat when it is cold. Clothing with low thermal conductivity is the gold standard for cold weather, because it resists the passage of our body heat to the air around us, helping keep us warm.

Silk doesn’t just keep heat in – it’s low thermal conductivity can work the other way and keep external heat out. Silk’s high reflectance additionally helps it reflect some of the the suns energy, further helping thermoregulation. These features can help minimize external heat gain.

It is renowned for its comfort during moderate activity and on days with large temperature changes often experienced in temperate climate summers. It helps regulate thermal comfort when we, or temperatures warm. When we warm, silk very ably absorbs, wicks, and transfers moisture on our skin, evaporating from the skins surface, without itself feeling damp. This helps to cool our skin, and maintain it at a comfortable temperature.

Our Silk Undergarments excel in climates with high diurnal temperature ranges by providing adaptive insulation, and rapid moisture management. Our Silk Long Pant Underwear is ideal for days that start cool, then warm.

Reduces Winter Wind Chill

The low air permeability of the Interlock Silk fabric we use in our undergarments helps minimize across skin air movement, preserving a warm microclimate of trapped air near the skin, which increases wearer comfort considerably in cold and windy conditions.

Our Interlock Silk fabric  optimizes a balance of maximizing warmth and protection from wind and cold air, with air and vapor movement for comfort. This helps regulate warmth and humidity of the skin microclimate, increasing wearer comfort in cool weather, and when it warms. Silk’s thermoregulation properties support a comfortable and healthy near skin micro-climate, helping prevent the overheating and heavy perspiration which dehydrate skin. These features make our Silk Layers the perfect match for next to skin comfort and healthy skin.

Breathable

Next to skin clothing comfort is considerably enhanced when fabrics allow air and water vapor to pass through them. This thermoregulation by movement of air and water vapor through the fabric, helps maintain a comfortable microclimate in the space between the clothing and our skin  Air permeability (the amount of air that can pass through the fabric) has an affect on both heat and moisture transfer.

Our Interlock knit fabrics weft knit has open spaces between the yarn loops, which allow air and water vapor to pass through the fabric. Air permeability helps moisture transfer from the skin, through the fabric, and into the air around us. Water vapor permeability (the amount of water vapor that can pass through the fabric) especially determines our thermal comfort when we or the temperatures heat up.

Smooth to the Skin™

The Interlock Knit Mulberry Silk fabric we use is Smooth to the Skin™ – it has a smooth, identical surface inside and out (unlike Silk Knit fabrics like Single Jersey, Charmeuse, and others, that have a smooth surface on the outside, and a rougher surface on the inside against the skin). This makes our fabric exceptionally comfortable against the skin.

The thread fibers of our Silk have a rounded shape, resulting in very smooth fibers that do not cause scratching, friction, or irritate the skin. We think its skin friendly qualities and smooth inner surface makes it the Best Long Underwear for Sensitive Skin.

Skin Friendly

Silk has the remarkable quality of similarity of its protein profile with human skin. Its repetitive sequences of amino acids resemble that of human skin, making them remarkably compatible together. Silk is a dual-core fiber, with two continuous cores of fibroin protein, held together by glue-like sericin protein. Mulberry Silk fibroin has  been consistently shown to be non-toxic, non-immunogenic, with no harmful degradation products.

Silk fiber is in fact so well suited to our skin that it has been used in medicine for centuries as sutures to close wounds. Silk fibroin yarns are well suited to hypoallergenic garments. These remarkable features make Silk hard to surpass for a comfortable, skin friendly next to skin layer.

A Superb Companion for Dry & Sensitive Skin

Research has demonstrated Silk can be of help to people with dry and sensitive skin. Hung et al (2019) concluded that wearing pure silk base layer for the whole day directly against the skin promotes good skin appearance, comfort, and remarkable improvement in the quality of life for people with dry, itchy and inflamed skin associated with atopic dermatitis. They note

Silk additionally helps by maintaining optimum humidity of the body through minimizing both the circulation of sweat, and moisture loss thought to worsen dry skin.

Researchers have found that wool, and synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon, can worsen atopic dermatitis symptoms

Next to skin Silk garments additionally act as a hygienic barrier, providing protection to the skin. These features make it the Best Long Pant Underwear for Sensitive Skin.

Mulberry Silk – Natures Finest Craftmanship™

Our Base Layer Garment fabrics are made from 100% Mulberry Silk – widely considered the highest quality and most luxurious natural silk money can buy. The exclusive diet of mulberry leaves promotes the production of longer, finer, smoother, stronger, and more uniform silk filaments. It is readily turned into the highest grades of some of the finest silk in the world.

Renowned for its pure white color and lustrous sheen in its natural, undyed state, it also readily accepts coloring dyes evenly. Its no wonder it has been treasured by royalty for millennia. Mulberry Silk is the Gold Standard Silk. Silk that is Honest, Elegant, & Timeless™

Gold Standard Interlock Knit Fabric

The Interlock knit pattern fabric that we use is considered the gold standard for Baselayer garments. Mulberry Silk filament twisted into medium-fine yarn is knitted into the Interlock (double jersey) fabric that is used in all Serigena™ Silk Base Layer Garments.

Silk Interlock fabric’s fine honeycomb like pattern is created by using two rows of needles to produce interlocking loops, forming a “double knit” (two pieces of jersey back-to-back) that has a smooth, identical surface on both sides (inside and outside). This knit pattern gives the fabric a balanced, smooth, stable structure.

Interlock fabrics require finer, better, and more expensive yarn. Silk Interlock knit fabric is a versatile material favored for high-end next to skin base layer. Its an ideal fabric for use in the Best Silk Undershirt.

Four Way Stretch for Superior Comfort

Our Interlock (sometimes called double jersey) is a weft knit known for its four way stretch, and significant stretch in the width direction, making it very flexible and comfortable to wear. This makes it appropriate wear during exercise and activity, and suitable for relatively tight fitting garments, including long pants and leggings.

Interlock Silk fabric is thicker and heavier than its weft knit stablemate Single Jersey, providing superior insulation and durability. Interlock also has more stretch and better recovery than Single Jersey, and a more refined, and luxurious look.

Silk Interlock fabric’s excellent stretch characteristic enables it to move with you, making it very comfortable to wear all day long in a wide range of activities. It’s flowing drape hangs gracefully, with aesthetic, and it moves naturally with the body. It is extremely smooth, soft, and stable, with a subtle sheen, inside and out. It resists wrinkling reasonably well, and maintains its shape well after washing.

Shape Retention

Our Interlock knit fabric has excellent stretch recovery. This helps our garments retain their shape over time. Quality by design, style by nature™.

Natural, & Sustainable

Silk is a natural, renewable, organic, and biodegradable fiber. 100% Natural Silk garments break down in normal composting soil conditions within 1 to 5 years, leaving no synthetic footprint.

Travel light

If you are traveling to an exotic destination, off on a road trip, getting away for some rest & relaxation, or off backpacking on a trail, you’ll love our lightweight, low packing volume, fast drying silk base layer and silk accessories. It’s the Best Silkweight Baselayer for people on the move. It is perfect for the cool days you may expect to encounter, and it’s handy as an emergency thermal undershirt should temperatures surprise you by turning lower than expected.

Our Baselayers provide superb comfort, extra warmth, and support skin health, when you have to endure cool cabin temperatures with extremely low humidity, on long flights to your destination. Keep in mind our silk undershirt & pants make really good light weight low bulk sleepwear when you’re on the move, so you might want to pack a few sets!

Pair With

You can consider pairing the Serigena™ Silk Long Underwear and Silk Long sleeve Top. Whether you are layering up for a day around the house, the workplace commute, the office, or adventure, we have all you need. They are great for daily use, and traveling light, providing minimal packing and wearing bulk, with quick drying care.

If you are planning to get out on the ski slopes, the trail, or wanting something comfortable under your motorcycle leathers, also consider the Serigena™ Silk Gloveliners, Silk Sockliners, Silk Neck & Head Tubes, Silk Beanies, & Silk Balaclava to complete your outfit.

Our Silk’s high thermal absorbency, wickability, moisture absorbency, very good water vapour permeability, along with next to skin comfort, make it the ideal natural fiber Base Layer option for commuting, travel, active pursuits, and leisure – your most energetic days, and your most relaxing days!

 

SERIGENA™ SILK LONG PANT UNDERWEAR – WOMEN’S
Fabric Composition	100% Natural Silk
Fabric Knit	Interlock / 75-80 GSM
Care Instructions	Hand wash preferably, or machine wash, cold or lukewarm (less than 30 degrees celsius) gentle cycle, avoid spinning. Wash dark colors separately. Do not use bleach, fabric softener, or dryer sheets. Dry flat preferably, away from sunlight & heat; or tumble dry very low heat (less than 30 degrees celsius). Do not iron, steam, or dry clean
Origin	Made from Chinese Silk, in China – with collective expertise in silk production acquired over thousands of years, earning the finest reputation for silk quality

 

A Garment that goes by many Names

We use the relatively modern term Baselayer to refer to our next to skin collection of Silk undershirts & Silk long pants. The Baselayer term was popularized by outdoor pursuits enthusiasts, innovating the term from the ‘base’ element of a popular outdoor clothing system – the moisture-managing base layer, worn under an insulating mid layer, which is often worn under a protective outer shell. 

The base layer is worn directly against the skin, ideally relatively close fitting to the skin. It is the foundational layer. There are no hard & fast rules over the number of layers because the purpose of layering is simply comfort. The general principle is that the system  facilitates the donning or removal of layers above the base layer to adjust comfort levels to suit changing temperatures or activity levels.

The Baselayer’s constituent parts – the Baselayer Undershirt, & the Baselayer Pants go by many names, perhaps in part reflecting the arrival of various terms with cultural exchange, immigration, and changes in language and popular culture over time. For a bit of fun we looked into the origin of the names we could recount – let us know if we missed any!

Long Pants:

Terms used over the years to describe long baselayer pants include  long underwear, leggings, tights, breeches, and pants. The term leggings has some antiquity, with etymology from Old Norse. Its documented from around the early 18th century in reference to protective lower-leg coverings.

The term tights has been in English usage from the early 19th century, where it applied to snug, form-fitting breeches (a term we don’t see used much these days), but a similar style worn by men predates it at least to the 16^th century, then termed hose. These hose were popular at the time for displaying men’s toned physique’s and status. Some were made from silk so expensive that a single pair could cost the equivalent of a laborer’s yearly wage. The hose term is used modernly in German lange Unterhose, translating broadly to long underwear / long underpants / long johns.

The term underwear is derived from Old English under, meaning beneath, below, or in subjection to, tracing back to the Indo-European root *ndher- (“under”), and wear. The word wear derives from Old English werian (to clothe, wear, or put on apparel), with its root in Indo-European *wes- (to dress, put on, or cloth). The term long underwear is modernly used to refer to long baselayer pants covering the legs, occasionally undershirts, and sometimes a set of both. The concept has proceeded into other European languages, with French caleçon long, Spanish calzoncillos largos, Italian mutande lunghe, and German lange Unterhose each broadly translating to long underwear / thermal underwear / long johns.

Breeches is a later variant of the term Britches, which seems to have survived, if mostly by way of folk phrases. The term drawers comes from mid 16th century American usage, supposedly referring to garments pulled or ‘drawn’ onto the legs and lower body.

The term pants is said to be derived from pantaloons, a 19th-century shortening of an older term said to have been derived from Pantalone, a 16th-century Italian theater character.

John Smedley II is considered to have initiated the popularization of the Long John style in the 1830’s, through mass manufacture of knitted thermal undergarments at the Lea Mills factory in Derbyshire, England. A firm origin of Long John term itself appears elusive however. Some believe it was named after John Smedley II.

The Long John term has been supposed by others to have arisen from popular culture associated with the American heavyweight boxer John L. Sullivan, nicknamed ‘the Boston Strongboy’. He trained and fought wearing a full-length long pant undergarment. Renowned for his larger-than-life personality, he began his professional career in 1878, and won the title of heavyweight champion in a bout staged in Mississippi City in 1882.

We couldn’t find any obvious connection of the garment to Long John Silver the fictional pirate in Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel. However it seems interesting that the novel was written a few years after the authors extensive travel across America, and subsequent marriage in San Francisco, during the period of John L. Sullivan’s popularization of Long Johns.

Stanfield’s Mill located in Nova Scotia, Canada produced long underwear that proved popular with prospectors and miners participating in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. In 1915 they applied for a Canadian patent for long underwear in two separate pieces that could be readily adjusted to fit various trunk lengths and could be worn separately or in combination as required.

Another possibility is the term Long John could have evolved from far less obvious origins over a much longer period through linguistic borrowing and migration of cultures, becoming colloquialized and popularized in its modern form in more recent times.

One such theory is that Long John is in some way the anglicization of the French phrase longues jambes, with longues meaning long, and jambes meaning legs i.e. long legs / long legged. Jambes is pronounced with a soft zh sound – zhahnb, identical to its singular form jambe. Its final letter ‘-s’ is silent. It derives from Late Latin gamba (referring to a leg), which traces back to the Ancient Greek word kampē, which has the meaning of  ‘bending’ or ‘joint’.

It has an interesting parallel with the etymology of the Yiddish term langeh gatkehs, used to refer to long underwear. Langeh is cognate with German lang and English long. The Yiddish term Gatkehs refers to underpants and trousers. It is thought to have its roots in Proto-Slavic gaťę, which also refers to drawers, trousers, or underpants. Gaťę is thought to derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷeh₂ describing the action of movement performed with the legs. Langeh gatkehs translates modernly to English long john / long thermal underwear.

Terms applied to both Pants and Undershirts:

The term thermals (from ancient Greek thermos) began to be applied to clothing in the 20^th century, in reference to specialized insulating fabrics and long underwear that retains body heat.

The term undergarment has usage from at least since the early 16th century, combining the Old English words under and garment, from Old French Garnement, referring to attire or clothing. Garnement derives from garnir meaning ‘to fit out or adorn’.

The term underwear was in use in England in the late 19^th century, combining the prefix under- and the noun wear, literally meaning clothing worn beneath outer garments.