A Short History of the Fishnet String Vest

The use of electronic components placed in hand wear, socks, and snowsuits goes back to the 1960’s when I was supplying a company with polyester fiberfill that the electronic wires were thread through. The sales of these products were relegated at the time to one company. If memory serves correctly they were gone before 1970. At that time Stanley (I remembered his first name) was using whatever batteries were available at the time.

You would think with all of the advances in electronics battery life would have increased significantly, but it hasn’t because the power necessary to generate heat is far greater than most people think. It is the loft and density of insulation that work to secure heat as well as cause moisture to exit from jackets.

THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS CAME TO ME RECENTLY DEALING WITH FISHNET UNDERWEAR. MUCH MORE INFORMATION THAN I WAS AWRE OF.

1.Wiggy,

Thought you would find this article interesting and amusing.

It's from the The Scout Leader Vol. 28, No. 6 March, 1951 Canada Boy Scouts online in a pdf. You have to scroll down to Page 88 for the article.

The article is about The Magic Undershirt...Leif Juell's Coat of Mail.

http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/dumpextras/Leade...

It mentions how a Canadian invented a fishnet/string vest type shirt and marketed it to the Canadian military and other users. What is interesting are the pictures-it shows a clear resemblance to the British WWII type.

Separately online somewhere in a forum I do recall reading that the Canadian military tested/used string vests(fishnets) during WWII.

Also online on the web there is a mention of a Dr. Henry L. Deimel who came up with the Deimel Linen-Mesh Co. 1899/early 1900s...an undergarment system made out of linen mesh to allow moisture to evaporate away from the skin.

On Google Images some of the old Deimel Mesh ads can be seen.

Interesting how folks from the past understood the need for moisture to get away from the skin.

– Unknown

2.String Vest/Fishnet At Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge UK

Wiggy,

This is another picture of a string vest allegedly used by Shackleton from the Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge UK:

https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/catalogue/artic...

also if you enter the terms string vest in the search box on their site you will pull up results showing a few different designs of the string vest that were used on expeditions to very cold places!

Interesting how the mesh design obviously worked back then...

– Unknown

3.String Vest(Fishnet Vest) British Military Issue Korean War Era Picture

Wiggy,

This picture is from the National Army Museum in United Kingdom.

It shows a British military issue string vest(fishnet underwear top) issued to British forces during the Korean War era.

As with previous pictures click and paste:

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1994-...

The mesh design evolved over time to include cloth shoulder straps presumably for user comfort-gear being carried on the soldier's shoulders pressing down on cloth was easier than pressing down on mesh!

– Unknown

4.What the Original Fishnet Vests Looked Like...

This is a picture of the string vest with better lighting and shows the type of weave /knot construction in the garment from a UK blog titled Through The Gaps! Newlyn Fishing..



From what I have seen on the web and Ebay the string vests issued to the British armed forces during WWII and afterwards were basically of this type. A thick cotton string was used in the design and the design allowed the wearer to move with ease...clever thinking without elastic.

Thanks for making fishnet underwear available to those in the know.

– Unknown

5.The old-time String vests...Fishnet Underwear What They Looked Like

Hi Wiggy!

Enjoy all the information on your site.

This picture is from the National Maritime Museum in the UK...it has a display of a string vest purportedly used by Shackleton:

http://ftnews.firetrench.com/2008/04/string-vest-...

Not sure if it was used by Shackleton but this picture is one of the older type string vests/fishnet underwear and what they looked like. Note the very large holes in the weave...this was definitely going to allow the sweat to evaporate as well as keeping an air space around the user's torso.

– Unknown