Thanks to our friends over at TONIC News, we were just tipped off to the ethically sexy underwear from Pants to Poverty.

The British brand was inspired by Nelson Mandela, and started out almost as a lark, with 12,000 organic undies in someone's garage. They brought the panties to the Glastonbury Festival, then held a flash mob of people in their Pants to Poverty briefs, and moved on to the G8 Rally in Edinburgh.

By the end of the first year, they'd almost sold out the entire supply from the garage, and in the process raised a serious amount of awareness about poverty.

They also created a network of people who are willing to demonstrate in their underwear to help eradicate poverty. Actually, we can't quite figure out how it eradicates poverty, but there are attractive people wandering around in their underwear, so who are we to argue?

Pants to Poverty panties are made of Fairtrade and organic cotton and non-azo dyes. They're also guaranteed to be 100% sweatshop free, so that's one way that they really do help, by providing a way to make a living wage to the farmers.

If you're dying to have your own Pants to Poverty flash mob, and need to buy a few pairs, visit the Pants to Poverty site. You can also just visit the site to see all the pictures of past flash mobs. Or you can check out the underwear models in the gallery.