Has Fashion’s New Tights Trend Got Legs?

To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here.

From hottest brand of the year Miu Miu’s sheer stockings pulled up over cardigan hems for Autumn/Winter 2023, to red fishnets under sheer skirts at Gucci AW23 and lacey, floral tights at Jacquemus’s AW23 Versailles showcase in June, tights and stockings took over the runway this year. The trend has since taken hold — prompting fashion brands to figure out ways to wake up a sleepy category.

At the British Fashion Awards in early December, singer Sam Smith sported black tights and sky-high boots, while host Maya Jama wore white stockings as part of a look by Dolce Gabbana. Burberry’s tartan tights have also become a cult item, spotted on models Jourdan Dunn and Iris Law.

The mass market is following suit. John Lewis reported that sales of coloured tights are up 167 per cent year-on-year. On TikTok, one of the biggest current trends — #redtights — grew 455 per cent in the past three months, according to Molly Rooyakkers, a data analyst and market researcher who runs Style Analytics. As a new generation falls in love with hosiery, many brands are working to position themselves as the fresher offering.

According to Allied Market Research, the global hosiery market is growing at an annual rate of 4.5 per cent, and is projected to reach $62.4 billion by 2032. This is largely thanks to more and more consumers seeing tights and stockings as a staple of their outfit, rather than just a practical accessory.

“Hosiery is not being used solely for layering anymore, now it is being worn more as a garment in its own right,” agrees Francesca Capper, co-founder of Poster Girl, whose recent viral campaign featured influencer Cindy Kimberly wearing bright pink stockings and a cropped jacket across the streets of New York. “It takes confidence wearing hosiery alone, which you can see reflected in our customer base,” continues co-founder Natasha Somerville. Poster Girl’s core audience for lacey hosiery is primarily 18 to 34 years old.

Hosiery’s new style codes

Specialist label Heist Studios has seen a 27 per cent increase in sales of coloured tights versus 2022, says managing director Claire Breslin. “[Sales of] our fashion tights, which are seasonal, trend-driven collections such as Shimmer, Herringbone and Lace, have risen by 12 per cent,” she adds.

Likewise Sarah Shotton, the creative director of luxury lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, notes that their stocking sales have grown significantly in 2023, now accounting for 20 per cent of the total. “There was a time when it had died off. Now we can’t get enough hosiery in.” The brand is set to launch tights next year as a response to the growing demand.

“We saw coloured tights in a number of AW23 collections, including Gen Z favourites Gucci, Sandy Liang, Acne Studios and Miu Miu. The hosiery trend comes in time with a revival of a number of 2010s trends (including leggings as pants and peplums),” says Rooyakkers. She also notes that popular 2010s content like Gossip Girl — which often featured white or coloured tights on key characters — has seen a major boost on TikTok this past autumn. “#Gossipgirl has had one billion views on TikTok in the past 30 days, up 143 per cent in the past year,” she adds. Lead character Blair Waldorf’s infamous red tight look has been replicated in countless TikTok “GRWM” or “OOTD” videos.

Driving loyalty with innovation and subscriptions

With the trend showing no signs of slowing, those able to provide affordable, quality and on-trend tights and stockings are set to win big.

When Cecile Antier first moved to New York from France, where tights are a wardrobe staple, the then corporate lawyer noticed that there wasn’t an obvious brand that people went to for fashionable hosiery at a reasonable price point. “You’d either have to pay upwards of $80 for a decent pair, or $7 for a bad-quality pair that wouldn’t last you more than a couple wears,” she says. “I always wondered why there weren’t many good mid-market brands with good products and fun marketing.”

In 2021, she launched Les Belles to fill this gap, and since then they’ve tripled in size year-on-year. They’ve also noticed that almost half of their customers identify as men. “All our tights are seamless and they also last longer thanks to reinforced yarn and anti-rip technology,” she explains of the gender and size inclusive offering.

“Comfort and the ability to move freely, rather than feel restricted in tights has become vital to today’s generation of tights lovers,” says Heist’s Breslin. “Since the brand was launched in 2015, Heist has been on a mission to use tech innovation to make tights that are comfortable, supportive and made as sustainably as possible.” This includes treating the waistband as a separate component knitted on a dedicated machine, as well as a seamless design for the legs, which is knitted on one circular tube so there is no gusset to slip down.

To keep up with the growing demand — and to create a loyal customer base that sees the brand as the go-to place for comfortable, affordable and durable hosiery — Les Belles has also introduced a monthly subscription service. “Some customers have had their subscription since the beginning,” says Antier.

“I don’t think this surging interest in hosiery will be a flash-in-the-pan trend,” says Agent Provocateur’s Shotton. “There has been too great a shift in perception towards the ways in which tights and stockings can be worn. Now it’s about being a trustworthy brand in the eyes of the consumer.”