Mainstreaming Men's Hosiery - IV

by Geraden

Let us assume that we would like to be in a world where men could, if they wanted to, wear tights (or pantyhose), without fear of being thought weird or sexually confused. There are various ways of going about it.

Forget about Robin Hood and Batman, but the more that men are seen wearing tights the closer that day comes. But if men buy and wear tights that are designed and marketed for women, what will that do to the cause of mainstreaming men's hosiery? Will it promote the cause or will it hinder it? Or to ask a different but related question, is it important whether the packet in which you bought your tights carries a picture of a male or of a female?

I applaud the efforts of Steve Katz (activskin.com) and Bozeman (legwear4men.com). I have supported them both with purchases and I have been very satisfied both with their products and their excellent customer service.

I also have great respect for those who believe that the best strategy for gaining acceptance of men wearing hosiery is to produce/distribute/buy only tights that are intended for men. Some of them got a lot of ridicule and offensive comment on The Delphi Forum, LAUF, from people who should have known better – in other words from men who do not mind what tights they wear and from those who only wear tights that are made for women because they want to wear a feminine garment.

But the trouble is, when you are wearing your tights openly and confidently, who can tell whether they are Activskin or Aristoc, WoMan or Wolford? Well, ok, we could probably tell, but then we are in the know, aren't we? The average person would not have a clue. So any male wearing promotes the mainstreaming of hosiery by men, even if it does not specifically promote wearing of men's hosiery. The visibility of specifically male hosiery on the shelves of Debenhams, House of Fraser, Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's (to quote typical UK outlets) would indeed help the cause immeasurably, but it is not going to happen.

Hosiery manufacturers and retailers – I am talking about the mainstream ones here – know that many of their sales go to men who buy for themselves. I have read figures that 40% of all hosiery is bought for men, and for online purchases this figure rises to 80% (even 90% has been quoted recently). For this reason, the on-line retailers (e.g. mytights.com, figleaves.com, shapings.com and several others) are usually very male-friendly. Male hosiery wearing is an open secret in the hosiery world. You won't find it acknowledged much in the bricks and mortar stores, however. True, individual sales assistants may be very positive and helpful to male customers, but the female orientated hosiery establishment (apart from the German company Levee) does not acknowledge our existence. For does not, probably read dare not. Take Mayer-Berkshire with its Lexwear range for men: a half-hearted effort of ever there was one. (Oh sorry, Mayer-Berkshire, I forgot it was supposed to be a secret that you are behind Lexwear.)

Why is this? The hosiery industry is in a precarious position as a result of female fashion choices since the nineties, with the trend towards bare legs. Until very recently (when maybe the tide has started to turn) no model would be seen dead in a pair of tights, unless she were modelling tights. Contrast the 1970s and 1980s when no model would think of not wearing tights, unless she were modelling something like beachwear.

Now I could draw a parallel here with the hat industry since the second world war. Up to the 1940s men in particular would (as a matter of course) wear a hat out of doors. Hats have been in decline since the 50s, and show no sign of coming back, except in odd pockets such as the Jewish community and of course the baseball cap culture. Hats have been in terminal decline for 50 odd years.

Hosiery has been in decline for only about 10 years or so. Is the decline terminal? It is probably too soon to say. Those who care about hosiery hope not. The mini-skirt was not seen in the 70s, but it came back in the 80s. Why? Not just because men regretted the end of the mini-skirt (!) but because girls loved the attention they got when wearing one. But now is the time for hosiery to come back if it is going to. Many men regret the trend against hosiery every bit as much as the earlier trend against the mini-skirt.

Unfortunately most women have not yet woken up to the fact that fine hosiery too is an attention grabber. Nevertheless the cooler period earlier this year was quite encouraging, and even in the more recent warmer weather, there are more tights to be seen than there were last year.

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tags: mainstream  open secret  hosiery industry  

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