Mantyhose

But tights for men — or “mantyhose” — is a popular niche business at upscale legwear specialist Emilio Cavallini, said Francesco Cavallini, vice president of the Florence-based company.

A growing number of men have been buying tights at emiliocavallini.com since a unisex collection was introduced in June 2009, said Cavallini. Purchases by men account for 2 to 3 percent of the company’s annual production of one million tights.

“When we started our online shop we noticed that a lot of tights sized medium-large were being purchased by men.…So I did a search on the Internet and discovered there is a cult following for mantyhose. All of the men at our company, including myself, wear-tested a range of tights to rate the comfort level, and we came up with the concept of creating tights that both men and women could wear. It’s a knitted fabrication [of cotton and nylon] that has greater elasticity and stretch as well as breathabilty, which is important since men perspire much more than women do,” explained Cavallini.

 

[WWD]