Sales of stockings plummeted from £10m in 2002 to just £5m last year.

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The popularity of stockings increases and decreases with fashion but in the UK the sales of stockings plummeted from £10m in 2002 to just £5m last year. It's thought the popularity of footless tights have contributed to the stocking's downfall however stockings are still popular with brides on their wedding day.

The growing number of women wearing trousers has also helped reduce the market for stockings which now account for only 2 percent of total hosiery sales. Tights (pantyhose) are currently the biggest sellers, accounting for 74 percent of sales, with knee-highs, including foot socks and leggings, gaining in popularity, at 18 percent.

Hold-ups, self-supporting stockings which do not need suspenders and which were slow to take on at first, are now outselling traditional stockings.

It is claimed that stockings and suspenders are now the preserve of the more mature woman, and the bedroom. They remain popular for romantics though, with many women turning to them for Valentine's Day.

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Socks & Stockings also known as hosiery are coverings for legs and feet.

Greek workmen and slaves wore hosiery in ancient times, and Roman woman wore a short sock (called a soccus) in their homes.

In 12th century Europe the breeches worn by men became close fitting, reaching from the waist to the foot like modern tights. They were held up at the waist with laces. Woman wore stockings held up above the knee by garters.

After 1545 knitted stockings came into fashion, their seams often being covered by elaborate silk patterns, or “clocks”.

William Lee, an English clergyman, made the first knitting machine in 1589.

In the 19th century machine-made cotton stockings became available for women. After World War I (1914-1918) short skirts were fashionable and long silk stockings were worn again.

Nylon stockings became popular after World War II (1939-1945) and eventually almost completely replaced the silk stocking. Until the 1960’s they usually had seams. They were knitted flat and “fully fashioned” which means that they were shaped to fit the leg by decreasing the number of stitches towards the ankle.

Seamless stockings are made on a circular knitting machine and are shaped by tightening the stitches. Hosiery is often described as being of a particular “denier”, which means the thickness of the yarn. The gauge describes the number of stitches in a row.

In the 1960's when skirts were worn very short, many woman began to wear tights (pantyhose) instead of stockings.