FASHIONS Bare-leg trend ends long run on pantyhose

Pantyhose choices expanded to meet demand of changing times.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
The hosiery industry is trying to snag a generation of fashion-conscious women who have all but shunned pantyhose.
"I was in New York for a conference just after 9/11, and it was unusually warm. I was walking around Rockefeller Plaza and noticed most of the women were not wearing hose," said Ellie Patterson, co-owner of The Temp Connection.
"They had on stilettos or sandals and business suits but no hose. I was kind of stunned."
The numbers support what Patterson and other leg-watchers are noticing. In 2002, 1.23 billion pairs of hosiery were sold, down from 1.45 billion pairs in 2001, according to the NPD Group, an international market research firm.
That decline in sales is due in large part to the movement away from career dressing and gravitation toward the bare-leg trend, which started in the '90s, said Sally Kay, president of the Hosiery Association, an international trade organization that represents hosiery manufacturers.
As a result, "the industry is coming up with creative ways to entice them to wear them and make hose a part of their wardrobes," Kay says. "The industry is doing a much better job of listening to what consumers want."
The choices include styles that appeal to the boomers who embraced pantyhose as must-haves when mini-skirts crept up too high for garter belts and stockings in the late '60s.
Hanes' varieties for holding back what time has expanded cost from $10.95 to $18.99. These expensive versions as well as less costly ones also are being sold to help erase the scourge of womanhood -- cellulite. Anti-cellulite properties, which work by releasing microbeads of cream that burst with the friction of the material against the skin, are the ultimate in marketing.
"When we launched them, we wanted to offer a dual-purpose product," said Barb Johnson, a spokeswoman for Sara Lee Intimate Apparel and Hosiery, the parent company of Hanes and L'eggs.
Generation gap
Marketing strategies aimed at generations X and Y are going toe to toe with the challenging fashion trends of low-rise pants and skirts, strappy sandals and other open-toed shoes and the youthful opinion that pantyhose aren't cool -- literally.
"In Tucson they don't serve a purpose," says Cate Noble, 22.
"They're not necessary with the heat and the casual nature of Tucson," says the Washington, D.C., transplant who goes bare-legged for special occasions as well.
On the other hand, Brenda Smith, a fortysomething call-center supervisor at Convergys Corp., says she couldn't imagine life without pantyhose.
"I wear them every day. If I don't wear them I feel naked, like I'm not completely dressed," says Smith, who spends an average of $1,000 annually on hose.
"I buy cheaper brands for work and more expensive ones for church," she says.
Smith says the textures and styles have evolved so "most people can't even tell I have them on when I find the right skin tone."
Though a pair of pantyhose can be picked up for as little as 99 cents at big chains, drugstores and other discount stores, the overall decrease in demand has forced the industry to dip into lingerie industry profits to make up lost ground.
Upgraded status
Girdles -- once restricted to lingerie departments -- have evolved into more smooth body-hugging styles containing Lycra. Some have been elevated to "bodyshaper" status, making their way into the hosiery section of department stores.
"If you want something with a control top, you can wear hose to flatten your tummy; nobody wants to wear a girdle anymore," says Valerie Steele, director of the fashion museum at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. "Hosiery that flatters, smooths and gives your legs the look you want is what's popular. At their best, pantyhose are like bare legs but better. It's both functional and aesthetic and gives you quite a bit of choices."