Yellow Underwear Red Hot For New Year’s Luck

TAMPA, Fla.—Tough times call for yellow underwear.

In the weeks leading up to the New Year, Juan Varon can’t keep yellow underwear on the racks of his clothing and lingerie store, Pompis, in Tampa.

The Colombian-born vendor ordered an extra shipment of canary-colored panties, thongs, boy shorts, bikinis and briefs. He only has a few pairs left. He’s already sold out of the g-strings twice.

“Most of the year I can’t sell one pair of [yellow] underwear,“ says Varon, pointing to the few that remain on the rack. “But when it starts getting close to the New Year, I can’t keep them in the store.“

Why are yellow undies so red hot?

In many Spanish-speaking countries, wearing yellow panties into the New Year will bring wealth and luck. Yellow is the color of choice because it is most closely associated with gold, Varon says.

“With the economy the way it is, I’m sure a lot of women will be wearing yellow this year,“ he says.

Tradition says you must cast away your old underwear at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s and put on a yellow pair. To be lucky, they must be new. Want some extra luck? Wear them inside out. How you get the underwear is believed to make a difference, too; receiving them as a gift is said to be best.

Sorry, fellas, but the folklore only applies to female undies. And bras and slips don’t count. 

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s, you better believe Marcia Robles will be wearing yellow undies.

“All the women in my family wear yellow underwear that day,“ said Robles, 39, of Ecuador. “I have to wear underwear anyway; they might as well be yellow.“

Robles said she’ll don her new skivvies before the new year rings in, to avoid a mad rush to the restroom at the stroke of midnight.

She believes she’s been able to woo fickle fortune with her yellow panties in the past. “I think it’s worked; it’s been very lucky for me,“ she said.

The underwear tradition can be traced back to Spain in the Middle Ages, when it was forbidden to wear bright colors. The people believed wearing yellow would bring them good fortune, so they wore the color underneath their clothes.

Now if you’re looking for some love in the New Year, shuck the yellow and put on red; it will bring passion.

“I didn’t have to wear [the red ones] for long,“ said Robles, who has two children. “I got married at 18.“

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