Who invented Pantyhose?

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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Stockings and tights are now all around, and are a staple feature of any girls wardrobe. Nowadays we take tights for granted now, assume that they will be available in a range of styles and fashions. Yet, tights only became available for the average person in the 1960’s. Stockings have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years and were available in materials such as silk, wool and cotton. However, in the early days in the 1500’s when stockings were first worn, surprisingly, they were worn by men.

Women only begun wearing tights and stockings much later on, in the twentieth century. This was fuelled by social change, when women were able to show their legs. However, it will still a minority of women that wore stockings, as they were fairly expensive. Nylon, an affordable material for tights, was only invented in the 1930's and the first Nylon tights (pantyhose) did not appear in the shops until the 1940's. These stockings were seamed stockings and were made by sewing together two seperate pieces of material. This old fashioned technique is rarely used today, although mock seamed tights have come back into fashion. The first stockings did not adjust to fit the shape of the leg like today, the material was not stretchy so stockings had to come in many different physical sizes.

Stockings were first sold in stores in America, tights were not yet invented. However once America joined World War Two, Nylon was diverted to the war effort. It was extremely difficult to get hold of stockings. It is in this period when women famously painted lines on the back of their legs to look like seams. This made it look like they were wearing stockings.

It was only in the 1950s that scientists discovered nylon that could stretch. This really improved the fit of stockings to women’s legs. It also made stockings a lot more comfortable, and consequently, more popular. Allen Gant Sr. was said to invent tights in 1953, however they did not really catch on until the 1960’s, as a result of social change. Before the 1960's it had been unacceptable for women to show a great deal of leg, making stockings much more appropriate. However, in the 60’s mini dresses and mini skirts became very popular. Due to the amount of leg exposure, stockings were not sufficient and tights were invented. Tights soon became far more popular than stockings. Both tights and stockings resembled more like what we see today. They no longer had seams as they were made in a tube.

Although it has now become socially acceptable to show bare legs, tights and stockings are still important items. Tights are worn by some every day, some just for work, and some specially for social occasions. Tights and Stocking technology has made leaps and bounds in recent years. There are now tights designed to improve circulation, flatten the stomach (control top), sculpt the buttocks, massage and even moisturise legs. There are also now many types of tights designed purely for fashion purposes. Tights have become more radical, with bright funky designs as well as old classics like the black tights.

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