The history of fashion is constantly on the move with one revolutionary piece after another. It’s in the nature of style and aesthetic to turn innocuous apparel into a statement. Among these revolutionary garments are fashion tights, originally intended to alleviate the discomforts of stockings and garters, but they have also come to symbolize a beginning for women expressing freedom in their appearance. Since then, knee high hosiery and tights have grown into an entire catalog of garments, with different lengths, variants, styles, and even materials to suit all kinds of outfit needs.
More than that, the garment sparked the invention of nylon—the very first polymer fabric and the pioneer to all synthetics in clothing. In fact, the clothing piece has branched out to sportswear and outdoor gear, and it has also made its way into technical equipment for military use.
For a better appreciation of how hosiery has changed the world, here is a glimpse into the history and the impact of the undergarment.
General History of Hosiery
The concept of pantyhose originally came about at a time when women were expected to wear a combination of garters, stockings, and girdles. In 1959, Ethel Boone, a North Carolina housewife, told her entrepreneur husband Allen Gant about her discomfort wearing this set of garments—a discomfort likely shared by many women at the time. This struck Allen with the idea to stitch stockings and panties together into a single garment.
The product went through many iterations before becoming the version known today. There were issues with its elasticity reaching all the way to the neck, which meant that it wasn’t form-fitting if worn only up to the hips as intended. Aside from that, the garment itself simply looked ridiculous due to its unusual appearance within the context of that period’s fashion. It wasn’t until miniskirts with higher hemlines came into fashion in the 1960s that hosiery became a truly viable part of everyday outfits.
A Revolutionary Style
As was Ethel Gant’s concern at the time, the whole setup of undergarments from garter to stockings was both uncomfortable and inconvenient for women to wear so frequently, but they didn’t seem to have a say against the social expectation to wear these. With the development of tights and pantyhose, there was a major shift in fashion towards empowering women.
Pantyhose were far more convenient to put on, and they served as a single, multi-purpose garment since they were essentially panties and stockings made into one. To add to that, these strayed away from the garters and girdles that were demanded of earlier garments, turning hosiery into a symbol of freedom for women expressed through their clothing.
This also marked a tangible generation gap by virtue of a new space being formed in women’s clothing. Post-War fashion provided women with outfits simply for childhood and adulthood, and at that time, women who were 20 years were seen as full-fledged adults. There was no distinction in style between young women and their own mothers.
With the development of hosiery and miniskirts came a new generation that sought to extend their youth through their clothing. New lines of clothing were designed to be childlike—as in to resemble clothing made for children—but tailored to fit adolescents and young women. It became their way of expressing rebellion, not only from societal expectations of what to wear, but also in terms of choosing for themselves what to do with their lives other than enter motherhood.
From Silk to Synthetic
While the rise of hosiery is symbolic of change in the realms of women’s fashion and empowerment, the garment has also served as an avenue for technological innovations that have left an impact to this day.
Before the 1930s, all clothes were made with natural fabrics as common as cotton, linen, wool, and silk. Silk, in particular, was used in producing women’s stockings even before the invention of pantyhose and other hosiery, but the fabric was growing more and more scarce. This was a problem given that more and more women were entering the labor force, which meant that stockings were growing in demand.
Fortunately, the Union Hosiery Company for Dupont saw the opportunity to experiment with possible alternatives. Through a special heating process involving nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, their research resulted in the very first synthetic fabric—nylon. Nylon boasted properties that couldn’t be matched by natural fabrics at the time. It was durable yet smooth, and it was safe to wash without needing to be ironed.
Although nylon itself never found its way out of stockings in commercial fashion, the invention of synthetic fibers did not end here. Engineer and scientist Bob Gore, whose father was once a textile researcher at DuPont, eventually went on to invent Gore-Tex, which was the first fabric to be both waterproof and breathable for wearing. It made its way into more rugged apparel and gear such as jackets, pants, boots, and modern sports apparel.
Uses of Hosiery and Other Related Products
Beyond being an instrument of fashion statement and a technological innovation, hosiery has since been pushed into more practical fields. For example, a medical variant of tights is sometimes recommended for treating poor blood circulation or for preventing blood clots, especially in the lower limbs.
This utility for tights has seen most of its applications in active wear and performance, especially in the form of compression tights which have grown in popularity with the 21st century fitness craze. Studies have shown that compression tights can lead to improvements in leg-centric sports and activities that involve a lot of running in general. Aside from better blood circulation, tights can minimize the overall vibration in the legs so that kinetic energy is focused on the primary motion of the activity, such as in a sprint or kicking a football.
Outside of commercial usage, hosiery has likely influenced innovations in military equipment as an indirect result of the invention of nylon to better utilize its more extreme capabilities. As far back as World War II, the fabric has been used to create parachutes, flak jackets, mosquito hammocks, and special-use ropes.
Advancements in technology have also led to modern fabrics that are friendlier to the environment. The process of synthesizing fabrics has been used to produce clothing materials like Econyl which is made of worn out nylon from carpets, fishing nets, and industrial waste.
Moving forward, a lot of funding has since been invested into producing synthetic fabrics of the future. After nylon and Gore-Tex, there isn’t much reason to believe that other types of synthetics could pave the way for new kinds of equipment and fabric products. Among the ideas being thrown around are fabrics that can enhance the senses, emulate invisibility, and possibly improve energy efficiency.
What started out as a simple improvement to women’s undergarments has since become one of the most impactful developments in human history, standing among inventions that have defined the modern era. Even if there have already been great strides that have pushed the industry and the product beyond its original purpose, we have yet to see an end to how much more it can do to improve everyday life, all the while keeping our legs comfy and warm.
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