When Joe Bennett bought a five-pack of 'Made in China' underpants in his local New Zealand Warehouse for $8.59, he wondered who on earth could be making any money, let alone profit, from the exchange.

How many processes and middlemen are involved? Where and how are the pants made? And who decides on the absorbent qualities of the gusset? 'Where Underpants Come From' tells you all you need to know. In fact, probably more about this mystery of global commerce.

Leaving his supermarket trolley behind Joe embarks on an odyssey to the new factory of the world, China, to trace his pants back to their source.

Along the way he discovers the extraordinarily balanced and intricate web of contacts and exchanges that makes global trade possible -- and rapidly elevating China to the status of world economic superpower.

He also grapples with chopsticks, challenges his own prejudices and marvels at the contrasts in one of the world's oldest, but fastest changing, societies.