Yeah, you heard that right. The world of direct-to-consumer tights is blowing up. And why shouldn’t we have high-quality, affordable tights? Warby Parker did it with glasses. Away did it with suitcases. Now a triumvirate of brands is doing it with women’s stockings.
Women often have a hard time finding good tights. At the lower end, tights tend to snag easily and develop tears. High-quality tights do exist, but they are often very expensive. And yet many women need to wear tights in the winter or at the office. So often, we’re stuck stocking up on cheap disposable tights, and expect them to be ruined after a few wears.
This new crop of brands wants to make better, more durable tights. But each has its own specific style.
Garni: Quality At Affordable Prices
This newly launched brand aspires to create tights on par with Wolford, known as the gold standard in tights for being durable and comfortable. But while a pair of Wolford’s costs $49 or more, Garni sells them for $33. What makes them so good? The brand says it uses some of the top hosiery factories in the world to create tights that have a high filament count, which creates softness, and a wide waistband that does not roll down. Garni has three styles that only come in black: A thick pair, an opaque, and a fishnet.
Sheertex: Totally Indestructible
This brand believes it has created totally indestructible sheer tights. It has developed a patent-pending design that uses ballistic-grade fibers otherwise used in bulletproof vests. The company even has a scissor test. It sends a sock-sized sample of the material, and you can try to snip them, but they seem impervious to tears or cuts. The company developed these tights for the woman who is tired of getting snags. However, this kind of indestructibility comes at a cost of $98. Sheertex now has a Kickstarter to develop a wider range of colors.
Heist: High Tech Comfort
This British company, which I have written about before, focuses on comfort. Heist brought on Fiona Fairhurst, who invented swimwear for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, to create tights and shape wear that is designed to be more comfortable than others on the market. For one thing, they are created out of a single tube of yarn, so there are no seams or gussets. And the waistband is both flattering and also adapts to movement, so it is unlikely to roll down.
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