Kayser Item...what is it exactly?

[TaraIndia]

Hi again everyone,

Hope you are all doing well!
I was taking advantage of the half price sales at my local op-shop today and found this on a rack with some bras. I thought it was pretty and would be great for days at home in Summer- especially for $1. Anyway, I assume it's like an undershirt and it is quite transparent. The brand is 'Kayser' and I assume it's from the 70s or maybe late...it has 'W' on the back but I'm not sure if it is an indication of size or just a manufacturing stamp. If it were it might put it at late 60s but I haven't seen anything like it before.

TIA

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

It's a spencer! Thermal underwear for when it's cold. The "W" is a size, it's roughly equivalent to a modern (Australian) size 12-14 and stands for "Woman". If you'd like to know more about the old size system, I've written a blog piece about it, <- you can read it here.

The "W" size suggests it's pre '70s. "Ban-Lon" is a trademarked nylon weave. Here's the Wikipedia entry for it.