About a year ago, Slate shared a video showcasing a shockingly simple method for riding a bike in a skirt without flashing everyone. The video, made by Scottish cycling activist Johanna Holtan, showed how you can use a small coin and a rubber band to hold the front and the back of your skirt together while you’re on your bike, preventing accidental underwear exposure. (Eager to see if this trick was as good as it seemed, I tried it with a nickel and a hairband and took a spin around the office on my bike. It totally works, and when the occasion calls for it, you can still see me around town with a penny in my pants.)
Courtesy Johanna Holtan
Now Holtan and her colleagues have launched an Indiegogo campaign in hopes of manufacturing a new, sleeker version of Penny in Yo’ Pants. After hearing feedback from women that the coin/rubber band combo was “aggressive on the fabric and isn’t always graceful to put in,” Holtan designed Penny in Yo’ Pants 2.0: a 5-millimeter faux-leather puck and a branded coin that fits into a hole in the middle of the puck. (You can also use a penny, nickel, or other coin with the puck, but the official Penny in Yo’ Pants coin bears an excellent logo featuring several P’s above a stylized pair of underwear.)
If the original Penny in Yo’ Pants concept didn’t work with your wardrobe, you can order the new version for 5 British pounds (currently about $7.64). And if you still haven’t tried the original Penny in Yo’ Pants concept, here’s the original viral video:
