Zimmerli of Switzerland

If you judge underwear by how it wears over years rather than seasons, Zimmerli makes a strong case. The brand has been refining fine knitting since 1871, and part of its range is still made in Switzerland at its own mill in Mendrisio. You are paying for longevity and an almost weightless next-to-skin feel rather than a logo, so the value reveals itself slowly.

Much of the cost lives in where and how it is made. Zimmerli still produces part of its garments in Switzerland, a country whose labour is anything but cheap, using fine knitting techniques the company has built on since its founder Pauline Zimmerli-Bäurlin trained on a Lamb knitting machine in 1871. Add a heritage that won gold at the 1889 and 1900 Paris Expositions, and you are buying a craft tradition as much as a garment.

Extra-fine men's and women's underwear is the heart of the house. After economic trouble in the 1920s the company recovered by committing to extra-fine underwear for men and women, and that precise, barely-there construction is still what Zimmerli is known for. The cuts are designed to disappear under tailoring, which is exactly the point.

Some of it remains genuinely Swiss-made. Zimmerli garments are partly produced in Switzerland at the brand's own mill in Mendrisio, with additional work by subcontractors E. Schellenberg AG in Fehraltorf and Textil AG in Huttwil. The company also runs a production facility it acquired in Coldrerio, in the canton of Ticino, in 1965.

Zimmerli was founded in 1871 in Aarburg by Pauline Zimmerli-Bäurlin, a seamstress and needlework teacher. After her husband's dye business went bankrupt that year, she trained in Basel on a new American knitting machine and began making high-quality stockings, hosiery and underwear. It is a rare luxury house that traces directly to a woman inventor and entrepreneur.

Quite a lot of firsts. In 1874 Zimmerli received the first double-needle knitting machine in Switzerland, which made ribbed fabrics and underwear possible and effectively seeded a new industrial sector. From 1878 the garments were sold in the Parisian department store Le Bon Marché, and the brand collected gold medals at the 1889 and 1900 Paris Expositions and the 1910 Brussels Exposition.

Since 2007 the brand has belonged to Nordeck International Holding, owned by the heirs of the Bahlsen biscuit family. They brought in Marcel Hossli, a manager who had previously worked at Patek Philippe, with the stated aim of moving Zimmerli from a premium label into an international luxury one. Earlier, in 1992, cousins Walter and Hans Borner had rescued and reorganised the company.

It has, and in some surprisingly famous wardrobes. Zimmerli underwear was worn by Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, Halle Berry in Gothika, Jamie Foxx in Ray, Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line, and Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine. It is the kind of label that turns up under the costume rather than on the marquee.

Zimmerli keeps its distribution deliberately narrow, which is part of its quiet appeal. As part of its luxury repositioning the brand opened a flagship on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris and a shop-in-shop at KaDeWe Berlin in 2012, alongside selected department stores and its official website. Buying from these authorised channels is the surest way to know your piece is genuinely Swiss.

Treat it more like fine knitwear than everyday cotton. Cool, gentle washing, mild detergent and air drying will protect the fine-gauge fabrics that Zimmerli has specialised in since the days of its first double-needle machines. The longevity these garments are known for assumes you spare them harsh heat and aggressive spin cycles.