Elbeo tights from Beatties

by Geraden

Beatties

I read a month or two ago in a business magazine that Beatties, the department store chain, had been taken over by House of Fraser. The opinion was given that the Birmingham Beatties store (in the former C&A building in Corporation Street) had been making a loss for some time. It did not take much to conclude that with a successful House of Fraser (formerly Rackhams) store, also in Corporation street, that the days of Beatties in Birmingham were numbered. 

This week, the windows of Beatties were plastered with advance notices of a closing down sale – 7 weeks to go. I am not quite sure whether the store closes in 7 weeks or the closing down sale starts in 7 weeks, but either way, there may be a sell off in the hosiery department at Beatties soon.

In my opinion, the Beatties hosiery department is better than most (beating Debenhams and particularly Selfridges, to name the local stores) but it is not a patch on the old Rackhams one. Beatties is strongest on Levante, Elbeo, Chanos and Artistoc. It carries Wolfords too, but not the wide range that you get at Rackhams.  (Geraden is making a note to have a look at Harvey Nicholls for hosiery – I have never been inside, because it is tucked away in the Mailbox building, well away from the rest of the shopping centre.)

Elbeo

On Thursday both HoF stores had a one-day spectacular with up to 25% off nearly everything. I had a look in Beatties and decided that with 20% off all hosiery, now was the time to try some Elbeo tights. Elbeo are best known for two things: support hosiery, and having the most boring packaging ever to surround a pair of tights. Only recently has Elbeo livened up its packets with photographs of the tights being worn.

I chose a pair of Elbeo Sheer Magic 20 denier support tights, which (with the discount) set me back £4.20 rather than £5.25. After scanning the packet so that you, dear reader, could have a picture to look at, I got the tights out and tried them on. They are well boarded (which means shaped by a steam process into a leg shape) and have a rather large heavily reinforced toe. So not the tights to be wearing with strappy sandals, then. (No I don't, in case you were wondering!)

They have a boxer brief with anti-run bands around the tops of the legs. The seams are raised, not flat. Flat seams cost more to produce, but are much nicer. I would also have preferred the waistband to be a bit higher than it was. Gathering up the fabric to put them on I had a surprise. Though these Elbeo Sheer Magic are rated as support factor 8 medium support tights, the pull required to stretch the fabric onto my legs was on a par with Marks and Spencer Firm Support, which are 20 denier and rated support factor 10. Once on, they do not feel quite as strong, but stronger then the M&S medium support ones, which are 15 denier and support factor 8. It looks as though it is the denier weight of the fabric as well as the support factor that determines how they feel.

Support tights really do help with leg aches, whether these are from prolonged standing, sitting or from internal causes, which is what I suspect mine to be. "Stress in the leg", my doctor called it, but I don't really accept that, as only one leg is affected.  Support tights hardly ever work down – an added bonus. That is good, because they can be quite hard to pull up!

They feel quite smooth and silky, and they have a bit of a sheen without being positively shiny, so they look quite good. The colour I got, haze, is probably about right for me – a little darker than beige, without being noticeably a tanny colour. The size I bought was XL which is supposed to fit up to 6'0" and 54" hips. I am 6'4" with 44" hips so I thought they might fit all right, but they came up a little short on me. I can still wear them, with a pair of sports lycra pants to hold them up; but I will probably not be buying any more, because my M&S ones are big enough without any holding up.

Support hosiery is a subject for old-lady jokes, but whether you normally wear sheer tights or opaques, I would suggest that you try some, if only light support, factor 6. You may be pleasantly surprised by the experience.

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