Funpals are a children's underwear name brand that was established in 1985 in order to compete with Underoos

Underoos

Underoos is a brand of underwear for children, produced by the Fruit of the Loom company. The packages include a matching top and bottom for either boys or girls, featuring a character from popular entertainment media, especially superhero comics, animated programs, and fantasy/science fiction...

. Its trademark was renewed on March 17, 2005 by Mr. William R. Hansen, trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 correspondent

Correspondent

A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...

.

Summary

Instead of merely having the cartoon or movie's logo

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

, Funpals uses the characters

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 from the movie or television show on the underpant. Example of characters used in Funpals are Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park (franchise)

The Jurassic Park franchise is a series of books, films, comics, and videos centering on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs...

, Bob the Builder

Bob the Builder

Bob the Builder is a British children's animated television show created by Keith Chapman. In the original series Bob appears as a building contractor specialising in masonry in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of...

, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is an American live-action children's television series based on the 16th installment of the Japanese Super Sentai franchise, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. Both the show and its related merchandise saw unbridled overnight success, catapulting into pop culture in mere months...

, Spider-Man

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

, Batman

Batman

Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

 (based on the general concept of the DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 superhero), Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

, Batman Begins

Batman Begins

Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...

 (based on the 2005 American motion picture), and Pokémon

Pokémon

is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...

. In order to trim costs and improve profitability, all Funpals undergarments intended for sale in the Americas are manufactured in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n countries. Other places that manufacture Funpals briefs include Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and North Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

.

Funpals come in the traditional briefs

Briefs

Briefs are a type of short, tight underwear and swimwear, as opposed to styles where the material extends down the legs.In the case of men's underwear, briefs, unlike boxer shorts, hold the wearer's genitals in a relatively fixed position, which make briefs a popular underwear choice for men who...

 format only although modern boxer briefs

Boxer briefs

Boxer briefs are a type of men's undergarment which are long in the leg, like boxer shorts but tighter-fitting, like briefs; a hybrid between the two main types of male underwear in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States. Depending on the manufacturer, boxer briefs may also be...

 for children have been inspired by both the more recent Underoos designs. Sizing for Funpals traditionally start at a "boys' small" (size 4) and ends at a "boys' large" or "boys' extra large." Occasionally, some designs reach the maximum size at a "boys' triple-extra large" (equivalent to a men's medium or a size 32). These are designed for obese

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

 boys rather than adolescent males and adult men due to their juvenile design. While a petition was made to expand the Funpals line into sizes worn by adult males (and into designs based on adult male-oriented licensed properties), it has been unsuccessful.

The female equivalent of Funpals are called FunGals; they come in fun designs like Dragon Tales

Dragon Tales

Dragon Tales is an American animated pre-school children's television series chronicling the adventures of two siblings, Max and Emmy and their dragon friends Cassie, Ord, Zak, Wheezie, and Quetzal...

, Bob the Builder (using the female characters), and Pokémon while carrying the traditional design of adult female panties

Panties

Panties are a form of underwear, usually light and snug-fitting, designed to be worn by women or girls in the area directly below the waist. Typical components include an elastic waistband, a crotch panel to cover the genital area , and a pair of leg openings which, like the waistband, are often...

. Fruit of the Loom

Fruit of the Loom

Fruit of the Loom is an American company which manufactures clothing, particularly underwear. The company's world headquarters is in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It is currently a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.-Company profile:...

 manufactures Funpals underwear while Hanes

Hanes

Hanes and Hanes Her Way are brands of apparel currently owned by the HanesBrands, Inc Corporation...

 manufactures Showtoons

Showtoons

Showtoons were a trademark of unisex children's underwear that were manufactured by Hanes, established in 1989, and disestablished in 2009. Its competitor, Fruit of the Loom, manufactured the gender-specific Funpals and FunGals brands...

which directly competes with both Funpals and FunGals. Unlike Showtoons, Funpals shows its design with a giant print on the center of the undergarment.