What does "tights" mean in Ireland?

Stella777

Probably one of my dumber posts, but here goes...

Where I am, tights are made out of semi-thick material, sometimes even cotton or wool. They go all the way up to your waist. They are opaque and help keep your legs warm in winter. They come in every color of the rainbow, patterns, sometimes different textures. They are fairly sturdy.

OTOH, pantyhose AKA nylons AKA stocking are made out of material which is much more sheer. In fact they can snag easily and then you have ladders :mad:. They can be in colors, but are often a sheer nude color which is supposed to look like flesh. Then can go to the waist or can be thigh highs.

So in Ireland it seems that the word "tights" is used for both. If so, what do you call the first one I mentioned if you need to make a disctiction?

(we only live in Ireland a few months out of the year.)

Who_owns_this?

I don't think we have a different word to differentiate between the two. We just say "heavy tights" or "sheer tights". If you really want to be specific, mention the denier.

boomkatalog

Just ask for warm/thick tights. Or as Who_owns_this? said, for opaque tights you look for a higher or lower denier.

macy9

Hi, I work specifically in the area of hosiery so let me fill you in...:)

Nearly all tights contain Polyamid (Nylon) so tights is an accurate term.

In Ireland tights is a term used to cover all types and styles regardless of yarn and denier.

Denier goes anywhere from 4 (very fine) to 200 denier. Anything after that is so thick that it has that bicyle shorts appearance.

Tights can be made from (and normally are) nylon, lycra, cotton, wool, cashmere, silk, viscose etc. Even if the tights say cotton, they will normally have some percentage of elastene or nylon in them.

Opaque tights generally contain Polyamid (Nylon) anyway so people can refer to them as nylons if they wish.

Older people in Ireland will generally ask us for ''stockings'' when they really mean tights since they grew up on the former.

In American English, the difference between pantyhose and tights is determined in the weight of the yarn used and the thickness to which the garment is knitted. Generally, anything up to 40 denier is known as pantyhose and anything over can be classified as tights.

For us, in the tights world, a semi-opaque is 30-40 denier and anything after that is a regular opaque tight. After 200 denier, you can get cotton and wool....and yes, they're called tights.

So in conclusion since all tights pretty much contain Polyamid (nylon) regardless of whether they are thick or sheer, people can refer to them as nylons or tights as that is what they are!!!

FYI:
Tights: Absolutely everything that has a foot and a butt in it
Holdups: Like stockings but stay up by themselves with an adhesive.
Stockings: Are linked by a garter
Mock Stockings: Tights that are designed to look like stockings
Opaque Tights: 50 denier upwards
Sheer Tights: 4 denier up to 30 (arguably)
Footless Tights: All in the name
Leggings: A much heavier yarn which should not have any visible gusset to allow consumer to wear them on their own but are also available in a sheer version which are normally worn under something.

*If you go into Arnotts, Henry st. they have dedicated hosiery specialists to advise you....and no question is dumb. They've heard it all before Plus, they have one of, if not the largest selection in the country*

Stella777 wrote: »

OTOH, pantyhose AKA nylons AKA stocking are made out of material which is much more sheer. In fact they can snag easily and then you have ladders .

A brand called Aristoc have patented a new technology which will prevent ladders appearing in your tights even if you snag them. They will be available in February and will cost 9 euro!