Aimee, Cecilia, Rosalind

We talk about our Pants here by name. We know some of you do, too. But who exactly were Aimee, Cecilia and Rosalind - and Hannah and Henrietta, who we hope to see again soon? They are or were real women who we want to remember. We choose our Pants names with our supporters, usually on facebook - we hope to have two new names to pick soon!

Aimee was a volunteer with us waaaay back when. She was bright and smart and off to London future. She came in and brought order into what was a tiny business and we still use some of her labels and order even now. Our Aimee shorts are by far our bestsellers every week. You just love them!

Cecilia is named for Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin an astronomer who theorised that hydrogen was the most abundant element in the stars and therefore the universe. She was persuaded away from presenting that conclusion - now known to be correct - in her dissertation as it went against what was believed at the time. Her PhD supervisor, who had done the persuading, came to the same conclusion in a different way some years later and is widely acknowledged to be the finder out of that. Hmm. Cecilia Pants have devoted fans.

Rosalind is named for Rosalind Franklin, a chemist and XRay crystallographer, whose XRay diffraction images were critical in understanding the double helix structure of DNA. The Nobel prize for the discovery was awarded to her colleagues James Watson and Francis Crick, four years after Rosalind died, of ovarian cancer, in 1958. I love this style and wear it pretty much every day, even when cycling miles through the New Forest.

Hannah is a lingerie designer who came to us first as a work experience placemtn from Leicester De montford University. She fitted in so well we gacve her free rein over some ends of rolls of lace and she made 81 pairs of Hannah Pants in three colours, which sold out in a flash - we have been working on the fit a little and hope to bring more back soon. Hannah is working with us throughout her degree and bringing in vital knowledge and learning to our team.

Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who died at the age of 31 of cervical cancer. She never knew but cells taken from her tumour exhibited a particular property which enabled them to be used extensively in medical research since the 1950s. There has been debate over the ethics of this. We wanted to remember her. Our Henrietta Pants were very popular even in the face of some technical issues and we hope to bring them back very soon.