Friday, February 12, 2010

Examiner.com: Male Tights-Wearers Gaining a New Sense of Confidence

Just a quick little heads up for any Nylon Gene readers that may have missed it: I published a new article yesterday on The Examiner. It's titled: "Male Tights-Wearers Gaining a New Sense of Confidence." In it, I spotlighted a few of the men who are beginning to shed the old reluctance guys have often felt in the past about acknowledging to anyone that they wore tights or hosiery. The reluctance arose from a fear of insinuation that they might secretly be a cross dresser, when in reality they wear them for completely practical reasons like leg support or added warmth, etc. Guys like these in the article are who are going to make a difference in changing public perceptions of men's legwear. Read it and send these guys some kudos!
Posted by Steve Newman at 5:36 PM Share with Bit.ly Sidebar
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What think?: 

12 comments:

  1. hi,steve my name is william phillips.i was wondering if should i wear women's tights and pantyhose if i bought them like a store like from a walmart store or a department store.because i sometimes have a little bit of leg trouble.do i need to wear some kind of hose for legs.thank you.
    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi William. You don't say what sort of leg trouble you have, so I can't say for sure. But, support style hosiery does help relieve aches and discomfort from poor leg circulation (medical term is venous insufficiency). If you're starting to see beginnings of varicose veins, or 'spider veins' then the leg support provided by this kind of hosiery will help keep it from getting worse, and will help with the achy, tired feeling in your legs.

    As for buying women's hosiery, there are now plenty of alternatives available so guys don't need to buy women's brands anymore. ActivSkin is the most widely known, and is U.S.-based. But, if you want to check out the other men's brands, you can find a list of them on my Examiner page (see link above, in this blog post). For my money, I'd rather patronize those companies that have made the commitment to men's legwear, rather than the women's hosiery companies that know full well men are wearing their products, yet don't acknowledge it out of misplaced fear of losing the female customers they're already losing anyways.

    But, that is your choice, as they will work, too. They just may not fit as well or last as long.
    ReplyDelete
  3. hi,steve this is william phillips.thank you for reading my comment. i don't for sure if i should wear women's tights or pantyhose.because i sometimes do have leg trouble like leg cramps.should i wear knee highs or pantyhose to help my legs support them. maybe i could try a pair of men's pantyhose.thanks steve.
    ReplyDelete
  4. You're welcome, William. Your question about knee highs vs. full length hosiery (tights OR pantyhose) depends on where your problem is. For me, the achiness extended above my knees, so I need to wear waist-high hosiery to help my problem.

    As for women's vs. men's hosiery, I think you're more likely to get a better fit from men's hosiery. I've been wearing ActivSkin pretty consistently, but have also worn L'eggs or Hanes in the past for comparison sake, and the ActivSkin fits better, and usually last longer, too.
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  5. Yeah great Ill look forward to the day when all men can wear whatever they like and be confident and dont feel they need to mimic every other man in the world. I think men are very attractive in sheer nylon hose and / or sheer nylon over the calf socks. Its always been an appealing look to me and men wore them often in the 60s/70s w/out anyone feeling inferior or out of place---we're just a bunch of humans riding the latest trends. I still wear sheer socks and I think they fell out of fashion in the late 70s/or somewhere around that time. LOVE to see a man in sheer nylon hose w/ confidence! :-) Jack
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  6. hi,steve this is william phillips. i was looking at the column about charnos hosiery for women.is it possible that company is going to make hosiery for men as for well women too.also you said that you wore leggs pantyhose as well hanes.can you tell me what kind of pantyhose were they.i was wondering if i should wear leggs pantyhose for me to support my legs.thanks steve.
    ReplyDelete
  7. Jack, I would assert that the day you hope for is here. You most certainly can wear what you want with confidence. All that's necessary for that to happen is already inside of YOU. Guys sometimes write posts bemoaning the lack of societal acceptance of men's legwear, but I say they're moaning about nothing. I wear legwear freely whereever I choose to, and no one tries to prevent me or gives me flack about it, either. And, I'm pretty much on my own when it comes to that. While there are many, many men all over the world who feel likewise, none of them are living in my immediate vicinity. Yet, I'm able to go to a Friday night football game, or assist at one of my kids' middle school track meets with no one objecting to what I'm wearing (black sheer ActivSkin legwear in both of these instances).

    How much more would your wish be an objective reality if every guy who wears legwear today began to behave in this manner, and feel free to discuss it with friends and colleagues if it came up in conversation? THAT's one of the main objectives we're trying to promote here on The Nylon Gene.
    ReplyDelete
  8. William, Charnos stated they weren't planning to enter the mantyhose market. Yet, they could be planning something and not be willing to acknowledge it until some future time... who knows? Maybe they could introduce something along the lines of Levee's WoMan unisex pantyhose line? Who knows?... I'm only speculating.

    As for the women's brands I've sampled for comparison, I can't remember specifics, other than L'eggs Sheer Energy or ActivSupport and Sheer Vitality. Can't remember the Hanes varieties.

    However, again, I would recommend the men's hosiery brands for you. For instance, ActivSkin makes a very good, full support sheer style of hose, A2019. They provide very good compression, probably similar to some of the Ames-Walker Light Compression hose sold at twice the price in most drugstores. Also, Style A560 is a very popular seller. It's semi-opaque (partway between sheer hose and opaque tights) and is (semi)sheer to the waist. It provides very good leg support also. Another good one is A677, which is full support, with reinforced toes, and a fly opening, which neither of the other two styles offer.

    Order some and let me know how they work out for you.
    ReplyDelete
  9. hi,steve this is william phillips.thanks for reading my comment.i have been thinking about the activskin full support sheer hose style a2019.would a pair of women's pantyhose like leggs sheer vitality help my legs a lot.because sometimes i have leg trouble like when i am asleep at night.because i looked at the leggs website about the l'eggs sheer energy and sheer vitality.are there any kind of hose that support your legs.thanks steve.
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  10. William, if you're set on wearing the women's brands, that's fine. My recommendations were regarding the men's hosiery brands, which I think are preferable. You don't need my permission, though, to wear whatever you choose.
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  11. Steve another great article, it is great to see that mens hosiery is becoming more accpted. Here in the southwest we have a large cycling population due to a good weather I am seeing more and more of the men that are wearing pantyhose over the heavier bike tights, and a few weeks back I was at a tire store and one of the tech's was wearing shorts and tights. So it is becoming more common place.
    Billy
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  12. Thanks for the report 'from the field', Billy. We certainly hear more and more reports all the time about seeing more guys wearing tights or sheer hose out in the open. I don't suppose you engaged the tire tech in any conversation about his legwear? If so, we'd like to hear about it.

    Since a lot of guys who wear legwear with shorts may be wearing sheer skintone hosiery, it's often difficult for the average person to notice. Especially if not specifically looking for it. Therefore, there are probably a lot more than one realizes.

    I can report my own experience. When I'm wearing suntan colored legwear, virtually no one ever notices I'm wearing it--despite interacting with dozens of people all the time.
    ReplyDelete

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