Women's Leggings (Hosiery & Socks)

Leggings end at the ankle with no foot, and that single difference changes what they are. They are cut and sewn from knit fabric with side and inseam seams instead of being knitted as one continuous tube. That means the fabric can be far thicker and the shape can be tailored. Denier, the yarn-weight number used for tights, does not apply. Fabric weight and opacity are what you judge instead.

About 85 to 95 percent cotton, polyester or nylon with 5 to 15 percent elastane, the stretch fiber, is the usual blend. The elastane share decides whether they hold shape. Below 5 percent they bag at the knee after an hour of sitting. Flatlock seams, where two edges are butted together and stitched flat rather than overlapped, stop a ridge pressing into your leg. A wide waistband sitting above the hip bone stays up, while a thin elasticated one rolls.

Tights cover the foot and are knitted thin enough to wear under a skirt, which leggings are not, since a bare leg ending at the ankle inside a shoe looks wrong below a dress hem. Sheer pantyhose share none of this construction. Athletic leggings use the same shape in a wicking synthetic with a gusset and a pocket, built to move sweat. Footless tights, sold on the hosiery wall, are thinner and semi-transparent, so they layer rather than replace.

Cold-weather layering under dresses and long tops, long travel days, and anyone tired of a waistband digging in are the cases here. Most body shapes are served, because the knit stretches in both directions. Thin pairs fail as standalone trousers, since anything under about 200 grams per square meter turns transparent when you bend. Cotton-heavy pairs also lose their shape over a day of sitting and never fully spring back.

Test opacity the way you will wear them: put them on, bend forward and look in a mirror, since the fabric thins across the seat under stretch. Feel the waistband, because a band lined with fabric rather than bare elastic will not twist in the wash. Softener is what kills a pair early, coating the elastane and shortening its life, so wash cool and inside out without it. Dry flat or hang, and expect a pair worn twice a week to lose its shape within a year whatever it cost.