Plastic panties
Plastic pants, plastic panties, and diaper covers are all basically the same thing. They are devices worn over a diaper for the purpose of containing liquid or solid waste that may otherwise leak through the fabric. They are most commonly worn with cloth diapers, although sometimes with disposable diapers. Today, "plastic pants" are usually made out of vinyl, plastic or, in some instances, the traditional rubber. The original diaper covers were made from wool, which was naturally waterproof.
Plastic pants are available in sizes for infants, children and adults.
Plastic Pants replaced the earlier Rubber pants that were made of rubber. They were already in existence by the late 1940's and to this day are called "rubber pants". These are a true panty since they do not have a fly front.
They have fallen into disuse since the 1970's as a result of the waterproof plastic covering used with disposable diapers. However, this is not a good practice as these diapers tend, no matter how they are made, to leak around the leg openings. Also since this covering is part of the diaper, if the diaper sags, the covering sags and the whole assembly falls to a point where the anti-leak construction of the leg openings lose their effectiveness. Plastic panties, being held up by their own elastics and being more full-cut will stay up longer than the diaper.
In the early days, these panties were more "high-waisted, meaning longer than normal underwear from waistband to leg opening and had a "wide crotch", meaning that the material there was much wider than normal underwear. Also, unlike normal underwear, the front and back were cut the same way instead of with the "forward facing" leg openings so that being worn "frontwards" and "backwards" were meaningless. This protected whatever the baby or toddler was sitting on. when in use, they resembled 15th century pantaloons or very short bloomers and were called "baby bloomers". The earlier plastic panties were very full cut and fit over the diaper quite loosely while the elastics held them in place so there was good air space. Also the leg openings were not so sharply angled and, when not in use they looked almost like a short pantaloon. This was all quite necessary as the flat diapers were folded in such a way as to be the same thickness throughout with no extra thick padding. If more material was needed, diapers were simply doubled; used in twos and threes which the full-cut panties could accommodate quite well.
When the prefolded diapers came into prominence, the panty became more close-fitting with less "breathing room". Also over the years, the quality of the garment has deteriorated as the material became thinner and the life span of such a garment went from several years, used with up to three babies in the same family then given to a younger sister for one or two more infants, or to a little girl for her doll, to about two and a half years and really good for only one baby per family and given to a younger sister for her child, since families have much fewer children over the past four decades. In the earlier years, it was usually the waist or leg bands that let go with the material of the body of the panty still being sound. Now, the seams often let go after about three years at the most and the garment is pretty worn out after two babies.
In the middle 1960's Kleinerts and other companies brought out a waterproof nylon panty coated with, usually, polyurethane. However, the coating tends to deteriorate and separate. Despite many claims to the contrary, plastic and rubber panties, when properly made and use, remain the best method for the protection of chairs, bedding and clothes as well as odor control, and even the makers of disposable diapers will recommend them.
Rubber panties were made to be a bit stretchy and were often used to fit tightly over diapers 6 decades ago.
Plastic panties come in two kinds "pull on" and "snap-on". The pull-on are as named, a one-piece, item that are pulled on over the diaper and pulled slightly down for changing. Snap-on's, dating from the middle 1950's, have four or five snaps or other fasteners running from the waist band to the leg opening on each side of the garment at the hips. At changing time, these fastenings are opened and the front of the garment pulled down and away to facilitate diaper change, then pulled back up over the diaper and refastened. During the late 1960's there was also a kind of snap-on that had the snaps running across the width of the "crotch". In this case, the snaps were unfastened, the garment pulled up over the belly to where it was out of the way, the diaper was changed and the panty was brought back down and the snaps were refastened.
Plastic linings are used in other kinds of infant wear called rhumba panties, which is a very full, panty with rows of ruffles on the body of the garment, usually in the rear but sometimes over the whole thing, like a "petti-pants". This is mostly for cuteness and to hide the plastic and is strictly for girls. Another, similar garment is the "Fancy Pants" and is a pant lined with plastic but can be worn as an outer garment. One version of this is a ruffled panty that is part of a kind of baby doll for infant girls. This, however is more like a "top" than any kind of dress and the "skirt" ism more of a trimming than a real skirt of any kind. There are also plastic pants, both pull-on and snap-on with somewhat absorbent cloth linings to help deal with any leakage around the diaper. Another type of pant, both pull-on and snap-on, is a nylon or rayon panty with a coating of vinyl or polyurethane on the inside and used with disposable absorbent pads. These are mostly for adults with minor problems. Also part of the adult market is a snap-on, cloth lined panty with a long narrow "soaker" that is snapped into place at the rear, pulled between the legs, snapped into place at the front and changed as needed. The cloth lining is to keep the plastic away from the skin for purposes of comfort or medical reasons (some persons have a kind of ulceration that is aggravated by having non-woven, non-"breathing" material against the skin in that area).
Of more recent vintage is the "wrap" which is a descendant of the snap-on panty which was invented in the 1950's to make diapering simpler. This garment is usually lined with a waterproofed nylon but some are lined with either vinyl or polyurethane. This is identified by its T-shape and the fact that the fastener is a single, long strip of hook-and-eye material running down each end of the "T" crossbar instead of the four or five snaps and the hourglass or "contour" shape of the snap-on panty.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_pants"
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