Where Underpants Come From

by Joe Bennett

When Joe Bennett bought a six-pack of underwear in his local supermarket for less than five dollars, he wondered who on earth could be making any money, let alone profit, from the exchange. How many processes and middlemen are involved? Where and how are the pants made? And who decides on the absorbent qualities of the gusset?

Joe embarks on an odyssey to the new factory of the world, China, to trace his underwear back to their source. Along the way, he discovers the extraordinarily balanced and intricate web of contacts and exchanges that makes global trade possible - and is rapidly elevating China to the stats of world economic superpower. He also grapples with chopsticks, challenges his own prejudices, and marvels at the contrasts in one of the world's oldest, but fastest changing, societies. Funny, wise and insightful, Where Underpants Come From is a wonderful and timely picture of the developed world's dependency on China to make all the bits and pieces of our lives - everything from toothbrushes to overhead projectors and artificial kidneys.