SimplySoles Says…

...Legs Undercover! The Rise of Starbucks and the Decline of Pantyhose
August 2, 2005

There once was a time in my life when I felt it would be unladylike not to wear hosiery (I’m sure I’m dating myself here). In my early working years, it was considered scandalous not to wear nylons.

My wallet contained those frequent buyer cards for pantyhose and I would buy at least 5 pairs a month (usually more). I would have preferred it if those manufacturers had made them (and priced them) to be completely disposable instead of having the tedious chore of picking them out from my lingerie washbag and hanging them around my apartment to dry. Modern art they aren’t.

I remember my high school history teacher telling us her secret for extending the wear of hosiery...simply cut off the offending leg with runs/ladders and wear two layers of the hosiery so that each leg (from different pairs) was run-free. I’m not quite sure how that made it into the history lesson plan, but it was really quite a smart idea, if you didn’t mind two layers of incredibly tight elastic digging into your waistline (which I did…hence the reason for the frequent buyer card).

At some point in time during the 1990’s, pantsuits morphed into acceptable female business attire and I started to throw my balls of nylon hose into the trash with glee. I was able to spend the cash on coffee at Starbucks instead of spending it on monthly parades to the hosiery department. (Did anyone else notice the rise of Starbucks with the wane of pantyhose?). And now, with the development and popularity of self-tanners and sparkly body lotions, the bare-legged fashion trend (really fashion advancement) nearly makes wearing hosiery a thing of the past.

But when we’ve thought about it, we realized that our “need” for hosiery hasn’t really gone away entirely, it’s just changed. The good news for hosiery companies is that we see that hosiery still has four very distinct and very important uses: for cold weather protection, for blister prevention, for flab fighting, and for special occasions (like perhaps visits to The White House). With colder weather around the corner and with all the fabulous peep-toe pumps for fall, tights will be a necessity. We’re seeing lots of colorful tights this season to come, and actually, look forward to having fun with them.

And as for fighting flab, as much as we don’t like to discuss it, the control top of pantyhose did serve a very important function. Thankfully, there’s now a great product on the market called Spanx. Spanx was developed by a young female entrepreneur that wanted the control top of pantyhose, but didn’t really need the rest of the hosiery that came along with it. So she created a line of hosiery products that was designed by women, for women, with a solid understanding of the changing importance of hosiery. Our favorite Spanx product is the footless variety that allows us to wear our new fall boots with nice warm socks below the bootline, and yet have a sleek, ladylike look above.

So, despite the decline in the frequency in which we buy hosiery, most women still need hosiery. What’s interesting to note though in looking back at the advancements in hosiery, is that in some ways, it mirrors the advancement of women as a whole. We’ve gone from being required to wear flesh-colored pantyhose (really they were more orange than any other color) that dug into our sides and nearly left permanent skin-indentions, to being bare-legged, proud, fashionable and respected. We’ve gone from making coffee for the office to buying a white chocolate iced latte for ourselves. And we’ve gone from greeting business guests to managing people, managing businesses, and to being the boss. And what’s not to like about that?

With Warm Regards and Bare Legs,

Rebeccah