However, most wearers may wear them as innerwear or leisurewear with nothing underneath.

The company was started to ensure the manufacturing of quality and affordable innerwear products .

"It's an exchange between innerwear and external clothing," Mr. Martin explained.

"We were one of the first to do the innerwear as outerwear look," said a representative of Patricia Field.

The French refer to this as 'dessous-dessus' which basically means innerwear as outerwear.

A relatively small budget ad of a regional brand of men's innerwear had jeet in the lead.

Mr. Klinger, 27, is the vice president of sales for Guess Innerwear, an underwear manufacturer in New York.

Fashion Knit Garments Limited is engaged in manufacturing knitwear products, consisting of ladies tops, sports and active wear, children outerwear, and men's innerwear.

That's why when Felissimo, a New Age department store, planned to introduce a line of "innerwear," they invited members of the San Francisco Ballet to help brainstorm.

It is also popular for rugged outerwear use and is establishing a presence in polo shirts and track suits, not to mention the key innerwear section of hosiery and lingerie.

Lux industries limiter, previously known as Biswanath Hosiery Mills, is an Indian innerwear company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

The actor has also done a jewellery brand, Sangini with Kareena Kapoor apart from innerwear brand Dixcy Scott and tablet BlackBerry Playbook.

Then there are shirts and pants that bear little resemblance to underwear - like a white terry cloth pant (inspired by innerwear, no doubt) with a matching black and white tank top with a sleek swirl pattern.

Choreographer Prabhudeva, who previously worked with Saif in an advertisement for Amul innerwear said that he wanted to give Saif a certain uniqueness in the steps, keeping him comfortable at the same time.

Even though thong underwear covered by clothes may be not be as racy as a thong bikini worn at the beach, it does show "a certain confidence," said Bobbi Queen, the innerwear editor at Women's Wear Daily.

This is yet another step in the evolution of innerwear to outerwear, which took giant leaps forward when inner-city kids and rappers began making fashion by showing the waistband of their underpants and Madonna declared underwear a part of her stage wardrobe.

The very definition of intimate apparel is expanding, absorbing clothes - like pants made from bathrobe material, at Chico's; camisoles with plaid pajama patterns, at American Eagle - that are designed to be worn as much as outerwear as innerwear.

There will be a softened logo, updated displays, posters and garment tags for the department stores that sell Maidenform innerwear, and emotional print advertisements shot by the fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier, which in effect assert that by relaxing and being comfortable, this is not your mother's Maidenform.

Innerwear as Outerwear Stores are capitalizing on the trend by expanding and spiffing up their so-called "intimate apparel" departments, running advertisements that show innerwear worn as outerwear, and working with lingerie manufacturers to produce styles that have a life outside the boudoir.

In 2004, the NPD Group, a research firm, published a report titled "Innerwear as Outerwear" that showed that 60 percent of teenage girls no longer cared if their bra straps could be seen and 26 percent of women wore innerwear as part of their regular wardrobe.