Couldn't resist
by Geraden
Once upon a time, to see what they were like, I bought some 'run-resist' tights. I seem to remember that they were the legwear equivalent of sandpaper, and about 50-grit at that. In other words they were harsh and hard. In the end I threw them away because never was I going to wear that kind of thing!
And from that day to now, I have never seriously thought about ladder resist tights. 
But then I noticed in Marks and Spencer's that there were some new ladder resist tights. According to the blurb, the amazing new yarn stops holes turning into ladders they are made of a revolutionary new fabric with 3 way stretch. (not quite sure what the third way is, but still) and they are cling resist. They have 17% lycra, and come in 7, 10 and 15 denier varieties, all sheer to waist with reinforced toes.
So I paid my £3.50 and bought a pair of the 15 denier ones in natural tan, extra large of course. Opening the packet, I saw that they were fully boarded and looked quite long. There is a cotton lined gusset. The waistband is very broad and soft. They have a reinforced strip on either side of the centre seam, but the legs are sheer all the way up, apart from the reinforced toe. The whole tights felt soft (!) and had a lot of stretch. So far so good.
I was disappointed in the first pair because it had a lighter barré streak down the legs. Apart from that, they felt deliciously soft, stretchy and long. But they had to go back. I took them back to the Customer Service Department and explained the problem. No fuss was made, the tights were simply exchanged for another pair. I also bought some of the 10 deniers to try out later. I thought I would leave the 7 denier until the warmer weather.
So what do I think of modern ladder-resist tights now that I have tried them? First of all they fit. That was never a serious doubt, but I was pleased to note that there is no problem in the length. They would go up to 6'6" easily, so long as the legs were not thicker than average. They are soft: not as soft as the softest sheers, but pretty soft all the same. They are nothing like the old-fashioned 'run-resist' tights. They do not offer any compression: the fit is looser than expected, but not so loose as to cause a problem. They are warm for the denier weight, probably because the stitches are over-locked in some way, and there is a high shine. The only negatives are that the seams are conventional raised seams and that the tights are made in China.
Unfortunately I was able to test the ladder-resist properties on day one. It was my own fault. I was kneeling down on the wooden floor under my desk, plugging cables into my computer after the kids had borrowed my speaker system. I thought that the floor was completely smooth, but there was a little bit of roughness, and I got a pull on the knee. Within half an hour there was a hole 3/8 inch across, but no ladder. I wore the tights all night, and by the morning the hole was 3/4 inch across, and still no ladder. So it works!!
Ladder resist tights have obviously come a long way since the early days, so if you think ladder resist is a good idea, try these! They are really not bad.
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