Edible underwear is a candy product which is made into a form and can function as underwear but which is edible.

The product was invented by David Sanderson and Lee Brady in 1975 when they formed a company Cosmorotics, Inc. to manufacture and market the product under the name “candypants, the original 100% edible underwear.” At first the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied their application for a patent on the basis that the idea of candy and pants were incompatible, but later granted the application and within weeks hundreds of thousands of pairs were manufactured and distributed out of the company's food manufacturing plant in Chicago, Illinois.

“Candypants” was promoted as lingerie in clothing shops, major department stores, motorcycle shops, candy stores and chic emporiums. It was considered naughty innocence. The press found it an outrageous delight and news coverage pushed edible underwear into the national and world-wide limelight. The product continues also to be sold through sex shop

Sex shop

A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...

s.

Candypants featured in two separate U.S.Supreme Court battles for First Amendment

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

 rights. Edible underwear, as “Candypants”, was used by the defense for Screw (magazine) in their fight to stay on the newsstands despite their content and then again by the prosecution to attempt to shut down the late night Public-access television

Public-access television

Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...

 cable TV show Midnight Blue

Midnight Blue (TV series)

Midnight Blue was a sexually themed public access cable television program that aired on Channel J in New York City.The show debuted in 1974, as Screw publisher Al Goldstein parlayed his publishing success into a cable access show, a freeform interview program that played on the late night airwaves...

 in New York City. At the same time author Jerzy Kosinski

Jerzy Kosinski

Jerzy Kosiński , born Józef Lewinkopf, was an award-winning Polish American novelist, and two-time President of the American Chapter of P.E.N.He was known for various novels, among them The Painted Bird and Being There...

in his novel “Pinball” referred to it as the “essence of American freedom’ on the “Late Night with David Letterman” show.

Years later edible underwear continues to shock and amuse and its place in American mythology remains intact. People Magazine listed it among the 434 names and events that define pop culture.