Russia appears to be looking at a new cause for protesters who are seething with anger. No, it is not over Putin’s rollback on free speech or the criminalization of open displays of homosexuality. Women in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are rising in anger over a trade ban on lacy lingerie. The ban prevents the importation, manufacture, or sale of any underwear containing less than 6 percent cotton. It is not clear if Putin’s infamous police units will begin panty raids in addition to their press raids, but the law has many knickers in a knot.
One of the more interesting protests was seen in Kazakhstan where 30 women were arrested wearing lace underwear on their heads and shouting “Freedom to panties!”
There is an estimate $4 billion of underwear sold in Russia annually and 80 percent of the goods sold are foreign made. They will no doubt be replaced by “Putin Panties” which has all of the appearance of risqué fun as their namesake.
Since Russia appears intent with Putin to slip back into old Soviet ways, I thought I would send my favorite Wendy’s commercial from the 1980s:
Maybe it’s not “Big Business Cotton” in Russia that’s driving this. Putin’s such a nut, it could be just his preference.Does anyone know if there is a big cotton business in Russia? Is there a lobbyist group of this? It’s a hunch, but I think Putin does things at his own whim.
Taking away the desirable goods, even if they aren’t domestically manufactured just suppresses the market. People don’t buy more cotton undies because they can’t get silk or Lycra. They just wear their old ones longer, that said one suspects the goal here is to get manufacturers to set up shop in Russia to meet demand, which is to say this isn’ really about a ban on panties but an effort to bring the business of panties normally imported into a bona fide business in Russia (or at the very least propping up Russia’s cotton business, to the consternation of Europeans) with whatever calculating tactics the domestic oligarchs can finagle ….
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2014/02/russian-women-protest-ban-lace-underwear
Noname. You are right about that. My wife has the same complaint. I never thought about a European source. What is the brand your mother-in-law sends her?
I thought it was a ban on synthetic materials in underwear.
In which case, bring it on! My wife hates the low quality underwear available in the US and has her mother send her underwear from the EU!
Darren
learned the truth in the end, huh.
The commercial reminds me of when I was getting ready to travel to the Soviet Union. Nearly everyone told me to bring a roll of toilet paper because it was one of those items that was always in a shortage and people had to stand in lines to get it. I just dismissed all of this as being an urban legend and took none with me.
When I got there I was right, there was no shortages, but almost as bad the TP over there was more like the towel paper dispensed in rolls as you see in restaurant bathrooms. I wished that I had listened back in the US.
It was from back in the 80’s because my old man would roar every time and he died in ’89. Wendy’s maybe?
There was one of the funniest commercials of all time. I don’t remember the product which is telling. It was a Russian fashion show w/ very large Russian women walking the runway.
Well, I know I won’t be going to Russia anytime soon.
Putin lingerie show….. Sure he will be the hit….
Someone must own a lot of cotton stock.
6%………Should not be hard to put that much cotton into any clothing, especially panties, but not exactly what the Russian premier should be concerned about. Lobbyists I suppose.
Putin is just trying to protect the domestic burlap market.
“The ban prevents the importation, manufacture, or sale of any underwear containing less than 6 percent cotton.” – JT
Sounds like the cotton industry may be in on this one.