Men's Undies, etc.

First, a 2009 article:
Guys, if you want to know where the economy is headed next, look in your underwear drawer.


"By extension, pent-up demand means underwear sales should be among the early risers when growth returns and consumers feel confident enough to shrug off "frugal fatigue," says Marshal Cohen, the chief industry analyst with NPD Group, which tracks consumer behavior.....While economists now track sales, hemlines served as an oddball indicator for much of the previous century. In tough times, the experts muse, hemlines drop as an expression of conservatism, only to rise again as the markets hit go-go mode. During the late-1990s boom, the hemline indicator was supplanted by a midriff meter, as more women bared their stomachs as the popularity of tech stocks (and Britney Spears) peaked.. "

Now:

Shares of Hanesbrands, Warnaco, Limited and Maidenform are thriving, and two analysts see higher underwear sales as a sign the economy is recovering.

Although I heard somewhere that you should buy underwear now because the price of cotton is going up. 

Also, I just like this sentence:

Even during the 2008 downturn, "the underwear area was very strong," Eric Beder, retail analyst at Brean Murray Carret, told CNBC Thursday."
:  )