Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, Etc.

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
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Daryl
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Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, Etc.

Post by Daryl »

I see that Sock Dreams now carries tights "for men" (their quotes). I am waiting for some of you larger members to give me a clue about size before I order, since the websites size guide is of no help. Here is the link https://www.sockdreams.com/opaque-tight-with-fly.html

Of course, I will report if I can't wait, too. Winter is coming.

So this thread is for things we pull over our feet and legs --hosiery-- an item many of us have worked on after dumping trousers.

I now get all my knee-length or higher hose from Sock Dreams. Not spamming for them, just saying. Many of their socks that are meant to be over-the-knee length on women, are dandy just below my knee.

I cannot wear pantyhose because it always rolls down at the waist creating a tight painful cord around my belly. I'm sure this would be the case with many men my size, so even the men's pantyhose from GLieberman is useless to me. I suspect that as with sheer (or sheer-ish) stay-up stockings, my size just makes the downward pull too much on the garments and if they were made even bigger I might try them again. My legs have always been pretty hairless so not much effort to clear if I want to wear sheer, but alas the products available leave me unable to do so anyway.

Which brings up a question. How many of us wear sheer hosiery and do we wax, shave or epilate, or just put up with the look of matted hair under the stocking (brrr)?

Wearing skirts a lot has made me more conscious of the colours of my socks. Did you know that nylon soaks up ordinary home-dye (eg. Tintex or Rit) like crazy? I'd have thought that a synthetic would not take home-grade dye well, and in fact most synthetics do not, but nylon soaks up the colour even better than cotton. Nylon seems to hold the dye better too. SO, I am buying a lot of white cotton/nylon men's socks these days and making them the colour I want. I just check that they are made of cotton and/or nylon. I find that lower socks look better with skirts (ie. lower than "trouser socks") and these are widely available in white and cotton/nylon, even in "diabetic" styles which are uber comfy.

I cannot bring myself to wear shoes without socks but admit that the aesthetic is very skirt-friendly. None of those socks made to just cover the feet but not show above the shoe have ever stayed on my foot for more than 5 steps. I wonder that anyone wears them and suspect that no one actually does.

Patterns on legs are tricky, and I think trickier on guys. Nonetheless I have some long socks with horizontal stripes that can work if my skirt and everything else is pretty plain and free of patterns.

Love to hear alla your experiences and/or discoveries.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Caultron »

No help on sizing at Sock Dreams. Anything I bought from them was in women's sizing. I used to wear their super thigh-high socks with a garter belt to keep them up, which is great if you want to go commando, but now I just wear leggings or tights. I'm usually a size 3.

I wear semi-opaque or opaque control top tights most of the time. The control tops help them stay up, expecially if you pull them up above your waist. That looks and feels a little odd at first but you get used to it and nobody's going to see anyway. Also, control tops help with the perceptible willy problem.

I don't wear sheer pantyhose because I don't like the way my tattoos look through them.

I usually wear tights or no-show socks between my shoes and my feet. Nevertheless, I do sometimes go sockless with sandals.

No-show socks stay on for me unless the shoe is too loose. Also, it helps to buy them with a large toe box and non-slip ridges inside the heel. The ones that barely cover my toes don't stay on at all.

I used to enjoy shaving my legs but as I've grown older the amount of leg and body hair has gone down. So now I don't need to shave my legs at all.

I've tried textured tights in various traditional patterns such as herringbone, and I like them. I think they go well with dressier looks, but they seem to be out of style.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Daryl »

Caultron wrote:No help on sizing at Sock Dreams. Anything I bought from them was in women's sizing.
Well, they are showing men's sizes now, but looking for an interpretation of what the tights sizes mean is futile. They are not size numbers but rather s, m, l, xl, 2x etc.. I'm still giving them points for trying.

Indeed tattoos lose a lot through hosiery. I only have one tat on my legs, so I'd put up with it, if I could find sheer product I could wear comfortably and practically. Control tops won't work on my roundness. They'd only form an even more painful tight cord around my waist when they inevitably rolled down. (And I want a fly.) I really do envy guys whose sizes permit them shopping both sides of the store as they wish, but I'm limited to the "plus" sizes in ladieswear, and options drop sharply in that segment.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by crfriend »

As most of my skirts are fairly long, I can usually get away with wearing sheer knee-high stockings most of the time. This is good in the summer as it leaves a certain amount of skin bare so it'll function properly as a heat-transfer device, but still give a finished look to what's visible. Bare legs, in my opinion, don't work on anybody much past the age of puberty, and in some instances can look outright trashy.

For short(er) skirts, where the band at the top of the knee-length hosiery would be visible, I'll wear tights in either sheer or opaque varieties. Control-top increases the level of, well, control (and we have anatomical bits that the gals don't have to worry about) and reduces the tendency to roll. Size in this, mostly rise, is critical; if the rise is too short roll will happen. Heavy tights in the winter also provide substantial warmth -- something useful in higher latitudes. Even sheers can cut the nip of late-Autumn or early Spring.

I have a couple of pairs of silicone-banded thigh-high stockings that actually work surprisingly well, don't roll, and stay put even on my legs. I'll probably order another couple of pair next spring in preparation for another summer. For upper-thigh-length stuff, there's also the option of a garter-belt to keep things hung properly. If you go this route, though, beware mirrors when getting dressed; there is a large perception of kink involved. (Since it's not on overt display, this is a problem for us but not, hopefully, the general public.) I would advise against this course of action for short skirts; full tights were invented for a reason.

Shorty/no-show socks are an option for the hottest of days, and one that I will use on weekends or if I'm not going to be at work. Bare legs, again, to me, do not look professional or even "well dressed". I also use them as an underlayer for fishnet styles so my toes don't poke through the gaps which is surprisingly, and annoyingly, uncomfortable.

A compromise I've found are open-work "trouser socks" (with a shout-out to Kilted John for suggesting them) so long as they have solid, or dense-knit, toe areas. Wearing such with short skirts can produce the "Japanese schoolgirl look", however, so caution must be paid unless that's your thing.

On the topic of leg hair, I shave. I haven't the patience for waxing, nor the budget for LASERs or electrolysis, so it's down to the good old-fashioned blade or an electric razor (I need to replace the NiCAD batteries in mine). I've also been shaving since before I adopted skirts, simply because I cannot grow a decent pelt on my legs and unshaven they look like the moths have been at me.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Caultron »

Daryl wrote:Well, they are showing men's sizes now, but looking for an interpretation of what the tights sizes mean is futile. They are not size numbers but rather s, m, l, xl, 2x etc.. I'm still giving them points for trying.
None of those size charts with height on one axis and weight on the other, eh? I'd say they're not trying very hard.
Daryl wrote:Indeed tattoos lose a lot through hosiery. I only have one tat on my legs, so I'd put up with it, if I could find sheer product I could wear comfortably and practically. Control tops won't work on my roundness. They'd only form an even more painful tight cord around my waist when they inevitably rolled down. (And I want a fly.) I really do envy guys whose sizes permit them shopping both sides of the store as they wish, but I'm limited to the "plus" sizes in ladieswear, and options drop sharply in that segment.
Yes, a fly is a bit of a rarity in women's tights. I just go over the top.

I'm too big for one-size-fits-all and even a M-L is very risky. But I'm still fortunate to have a pretty good selection.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Ray »

I wear sheer tights a LOT. I love the look and feel of them. However there are times when they have no place - sports, working in the garden, hot days, cold days (there is a temperature range when sheer tights work well). When the daytime temperature dips below 10c, I'm into opaque tights (40-60 denier) which I wear daily under my suit to work (black, and flatly visible to anyone who looks at my ankle).

My legs are shaved. I started shaving in 1997. Nobody bats an eyelid at my hairless legs (assuming they are bare).

I don't wear stockings. While I have the odd pair of hold-ups, I rarely wear these - maybe once every three years.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by phathack »

One of the issues I run into is confusion on the what these items are.

To me Stockings and Tights are both made out of the same material and are somewhat transparent, even the
supposedly opaque tights (40-60 denier) are see through with the right light.

Stockings require a garter belt or may have a stay up band which grips the leg.

Tights also are often called Pantyhose in the US, they are just like stockings with a built in panty that's supposed to keep them in place, you mileage will vary.

Leggings or Yoga Pants are skin tight pants that are ankle or capri length, they are not see through at all, and are usually cotton or nylon spandex. Some women have been known to wear opaque tights as leggings, since that's how that item was sold as "Leggings" while they they are just opaque tights and will be see through in daylight exposing more than expected.
A big trend in leggings are printed leggings, where they print a graphic on the leggings that makes them draw the eye to the graphics on the pants.

As to sizing you need to first determine what your clothing size is in your areas womens wear line. Then use that as a guide when shopping. Womens wear can be very confusing as they have teen, misses and womens sizes which are different scales that are not related at all. I'm a big guy and wear a US Women's size 24. I have to shop the online speciality stores that specialize in big and tall women. I pay close attention to size scale and inseam length as there are not many 6 ft tall woman around.

I shop for Stockings, Tights and Leggings on Amazon, I usually look for 3x Plus Size but I read all the reviews to make sure they are true to size. Some of the items are Asian Sized which run 2 sometimes 3 sizes smaller so if the reviews say runs small I avoid that brand all together.

Re: A Fly in Tights - There was a brand that once offered a fly but it was poor seller they were discontinued. As of the time of this posting I'm not aware of any tights with a fly.

90% of the time I wear a Skirt in Summer and Leggins in Winter, the other 10% of the time I wear pants, usualy womens pants but on occasion I will put what few pair of mens pants I still own just because.


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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Ray »

Activskin will happily sell you hosiery with a fly, as will Doyeah, a Chinese company. I wear both (but mostly Doyeah, as they are a lot less expensive).
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Sinned »

I wear tights and opaques and thicker when the weather gets really cold. Mainly black but other colours to match the rest of the ensemble when I feel interesting. They stay up for me so I don't feel the necessity to buy men's tights, just ordinary women's ones. They're cheap and good enough for me. Like Carl I wear the non-visible shoe socks with fishnets as the toe poke-through is really, really annoying. I don't shave my legs as I wouldn't if I wore shorts so why would I for a skirt. I also wear thigh highs and find that they stay up for me very well. Never have been able to get away with stockings and a belt - the stockings invariably come adrift of the fastenings so I don't really have any. But then, hey, we are all different.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Daryl »

Ray wrote:My legs are shaved. I started shaving in 1997. Nobody bats an eyelid at my hairless legs (assuming they are bare).
My sis inlaw grabbed my calf once sitting beside me and looked at me and said "smooth" with surprise. A lady security guard at the airport making smalltalk about my kilt observed that I shaved my legs. In both cases I denied shaving them. In truth I epilate.

One hallowe'en I went drag and shaved my legs for that. A few years later, I did the same thing, and on recommendation of a lady friend who told me waxing doesn't hurt (and it doesn't) but prevents stubble during grow-back, I waxed them with a home wax kit. That was the end of my already pretty thin leg hair. The effect is nearly permanent. Maybe it wouldn't be so if I were more heavily haired to begin with, but I wasn't.

So now when I don't clear the forest at all for a long time I just get some long fine hairs that probably wouldn't show under stockings anyway, and maybe twice a year I run an epilator over them on principle, because the halfway stage between smooth and hairy just seems messy to me.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by hoborob »

Interesting that you should mention the end of your leg hair there Daryl. I am naturally blonde and had little trouble with my leg hair showing even under sheer hosiery. I checked a number a months ago and to my surprise I found that what little hair I did have on my legs seems to have disappeared, strangely enough I don't shave and have done nothing at all to remove the hair that was there, other than wearing hosiery everyday but there is no connection there as far as I know.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Daryl »

hoborob wrote:Interesting that you should mention the end of your leg hair there Daryl. I am naturally blonde and had little trouble with my leg hair showing even under sheer hosiery. I checked a number a months ago and to my surprise I found that what little hair I did have on my legs seems to have disappeared, strangely enough I don't shave and have done nothing at all to remove the hair that was there, other than wearing hosiery everyday but there is no connection there as far as I know.
Hmm. Leg hair follicles are pretty weak, and the hair reduces naturally with age. Perhaps between the years going by and hosiery rubbing on the hairs, your follicles are giving up and retiring.

Except for on our heads human beings never really grow enough fur for it to be useful. I don't miss any of it.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by SkirtsDad »

crfriend wrote:Bare legs, in my opinion, don't work on anybody much past the age of puberty, and in some instances can look outright trashy.
Since I'm way past the age of puberty then I'm probably guilty for being trashy LMAO :lol: I see no sense whatsoever in wearing sheer tights. I'm wearing a short skirt so I can get as much fresh air and sunshine to my legs as possible. If I wear tights then it's either for the fashion, so probably colourful 80 denier or more, or to keep warm, so perhaps cable knit footless tights. I do have quite a lot of footless tights as they have many advantages.... footless tights stay up better as they are not pulling downwards from the feet, they can be worn with ballet flats without spoiling the aesthetic, and if you walk around with no shoes, as I often do, then they don't snag on anything and don't wear through.
crfriend wrote:On the topic of leg hair, I shave. I haven't the patience for waxing, nor the budget for LASERs or electrolysis, so it's down to the good old-fashioned blade or an electric razor (I need to replace the NiCAD batteries in mine). I've also been shaving since before I adopted skirts, simply because I cannot grow a decent pelt on my legs and unshaven they look like the moths have been at me.
I've never been a fan of hairy legs and neither was my ex g/f so I invested in an IPL (Intensive Pulsed Light - not a laser) machine. It was very effective for me (doesn't do blonde or white hair as needs the pigment to transfer light/heat to follicle) and took around 4 weeks (using once a week) to get rid of 90% of my hair. A few more sessions and nearly everything was gone. The odd few hairs pop back so I spend about 30 seconds once a week with a conventional razor to clear them. I did a lot of research before choosing a model. Some of them pulse slowly so can take a long time to do a single leg. The one I have also adjusts the intensity based on the darkness of the skin as skin tone can vary. It worked almost a well on my chest with just a few extra hairs growing back each week.
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Ralph »

Berkshire has become my brand of choice for winter tights. They make a ribbed style that's extremely warm, and their sizing even goes beyond my popeye-like thunder thighs (I wear the 3x-4x, and there's a 5x-6x for even bigger folk). Not a lot of variety in color (yet), but that's OK because when it's cold enough to need tights, they're just the first of many layers so they don't get seen much anyway.

The other advantage is for shy guys who prefer to keep their nonstandard legwear discreet: The heavy ribbed weave, particularly in black, makes any visible ankle parts indistinguishable from standard men's socks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E7Q9QDY
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Re: Foot and Leg Wear, Socks, Stockings, Leggings, Tights, E

Post by Daryl »

SkirtsDad wrote: I've never been a fan of hairy legs and neither was my ex g/f so I invested in an IPL (Intensive Pulsed Light - not a laser) machine. It was very effective for me (doesn't do blonde or white hair as needs the pigment to transfer light/heat to follicle) and took around 4 weeks (using once a week) to get rid of 90% of my hair. A few more sessions and nearly everything was gone. The odd few hairs pop back so I spend about 30 seconds once a week with a conventional razor to clear them. I did a lot of research before choosing a model. Some of them pulse slowly so can take a long time to do a single leg. The one I have also adjusts the intensity based on the darkness of the skin as skin tone can vary. It worked almost a well on my chest with just a few extra hairs growing back each week.
A simple and cheap epilator, used properly, will have the same effect on ANY colour of hair, and be 100% effective on first use.
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