Today I realised how lucky I am with my job. When I first started Sweet Pins as an online based company, I thought I was going to miss social interaction. I love chatting to customers.. or I love chatting in general.
Luckily I was so wrong. Not only I receive enquiries and feedback on a daily basis. But it is also from the most varied type of customers.
You’ll be surprised (or perhaps not) to know that we have a lot of male fans. Some buy for their partners but many buy for themselves.
Most of these glamorous queens are incredibly passionate about lingerie, particularly the vintage inspired type. But for many it is the stockings that holds the dearest place in their heart, genuine fully fashioned nylons in particular. There is just something about sliding that smooth nylon over the legs.. and men often appreciate it more than women do.
No doubt there are many reasons for men to wear stockings. Stockings look great and make you look and feel womanly, irresistible. I must say that a lot of our male customers are real connoisseurs and I have so much fun discussing garter belts and girdles with them! So I’m wondering.. can men actually give women a run for their money in the leg department?
Fully fashioned stockings, FFS, are becoming increasingly rare – only a handful of manufacturerd worldwide now make them regularly. They are knitted flat and then the two sides are sewn together forming what is the seam– therefore the seam is an integral part of the stocking and not sewn on afterwards as is the case with more modern stockings.
Fully fashioned stockings are sized to the height and shoe size of the wearer and as such have little or no stretch in them as they have no lycra contained within the yarn. In addition to the distinctive seam they also come in a number of heel designs (covered below) and the top of the seam where it meets the welt at the top of the stocking is completed by the welt being turned over and a finishing loop applied. The loop is needed to allow the needle sewing the seam to be withdrawn.
Heel styles vary from the original French (pyramidal) or point heel which was made most famous by the Aristoc Point Heel design to the Cuban and Havana heels – darkened reinforced heel design finishing in a square top rather than pointed top. The Cuban heel is defined by being much thinner and finishing higher up the calf than the Havana heel.
Authentic fully fashioned seam stockings require up to 2 hours of work for a single pair to obtain an exceptional craft finish.
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