50p tights!

by Geraden

"What is the most you have ever paid for a pair of tights?"
"Errr – ummm – next question, please!"
"Ok, what is the least that you have ever paid for a pair of tights?"
"In recent times, 50p."

I have been back to Debenhams Sale and bought some more of their Shapewear Support tights. Reduced from £7.00 to £4.90 but finally reduced to £1.00. That is for a two pair packet. They had only barely black in my size, but that does not matter. I have started wearing darker and more noticeable colours. I picked out two packs yesterday checking carefully that they were XL and that they were tights, not stockings or hold-ups. I took them to the cash desk and the girl scanned them and told me that they were each £1.00. As I handed over my money, I remarked, "That is a good price to be paying for a pair of tights!" She laughed. I don't know whether she realised that they were for me or not, but as usual at hosiery counters I acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world for a man to be buying hosiery: which for me it is, of course.

I noticed only at that point, as the girl was putting the tights in a carrier bag, that the designs on the packets were different. On the way home, once I had got settled on the bus, I took them out to investigate. That was when I discovered that while one pair was what I expected, Medium Support, the other was Firm Support, originally priced £10:00 for two pairs. Even better value for 50p, I thought. So now I have a total of 6 pairs of the Medium and 2 pairs of Firm.

Both varieties have reinforced toes and panty and an oval gusset. The medium ones are 15 den, the firm ones 30 den. They have 15 and 16 percent lycra content respectively. The medium seemed quite silky out of the packet; the firm were fairly harsh. Neither pair gave as much support as expected, compared with the equivalent M&S lines. The fit was very good in both cases with the firm support being slightly better in this respect, showing no tendency to go south during the day. The colour of the tights was the lightest I have seen in 'barely black' - it was scarecely darker than mid grey, and not the charcoal colour I associate with 'barely black'.

These are not tights I would buy other than as a sale bargain. I much prefer the M&S ones to these – they give better support and are much more silky to feel. The M&S cost £4.00 a pair for Medium and £5.00 a pair for Firm. But for 50p a pair, the Debenhams ones were a good buy.