wearing tights under their
leotard-based costumes in 1910 The history of pantyhose, as for stockings, is tied to that of changes in styles of women's
hemlines. Before the 1920s, it was generally expected that women would cover their legs in public, including their ankles; dress and skirt hemlines were generally to the ground. The main exceptions were in sports and entertainment, making tights a more suitable choice. In cases of high-cut legs or fabrics that would produce a visible panty line, it was a practical necessity to wear them as the only lower undergarment. In the 1920s, fashionable hemlines for women began to rise, exposing the legs to just below the knees. Stockings also came into vogue to maintain leg coverage, as well as some level of warmth. The most popular stockings were sheer hosiery which were first made of
silk or
rayon (then known as "artificial silk"), and, after 1940, made of nylon, which had been invented by
DuPont in 1938. During the 1940s and 1950s, stage and film producers would sew stockings to the briefs of their actresses and dancers, as testified to by singer-actress-dancer
Ann Miller. These garments were seen in popular motion pictures such as
Daddy Long Legs. In 1953, Allen Gant Sr. of
Glen Raven Knitting Mills developed a commercial equivalent to these hose that he named "Panti-Legs", but these were not brought to the open market until about 1959. During this time, Ernest G. Rice invented his own design for pantyhose similar to those worn today, and in 1956 he submitted a patent titled "Combination Stockings and Panty". This design was adopted by other makers, and this caused disputes in U.S. courts for many years before the patent was upheld some time after Rice's own death. Meanwhile, the yarn manufacturer Chemstrand already presented a product with an opaque panty part and gusset called
leotard-stockings in November 1958. In 1974, actress
Julie Newmar successfully filed a patent for "Pantyhose with shaping band for cheeky derriere relief", a garment innovation made famous through the costume she designed in the 1960s for her role as
Catwoman in the TV show
Batman. Up until this time, there was little reason for women outside show business to wear "panty hose", as the longer hemlines allowed for the use of over-the-knee stockings secured with a
garter belt. Nonetheless, during the 1960s, improved
textile manufacturing processes made pantyhose increasingly more affordable, while human-made textiles such as
spandex (or elastane) made them more comfortable and durable. The advent of the fashionable
miniskirt, which exposed the legs to well above the knee, made pantyhose a necessity to many women. In 1970, U.S. sales of pantyhose exceeded stockings for the first time, and it has remained so ever since. Pantyhose became a wardrobe staple throughout the 1970s and 1980s. From 1995 a steady decline began, leveling off in 2006 with U.S. sales less than half of what they had once been. This decline has been attributed to
bare legs in fashion, changes in
workplace dress code, and the increased popularity of trousers. While sales of traditional styles did not recover, the 2000s saw the rise of other specific styles.
Fishnet hose, patterns and colors, opaque tights,
low-rise pantyhose, footless
shapewear, and pantyhose for men (playfully referred to as "mantyhose") all experienced increased sales. In the 2010s, an increasing popularity for form-fitting opaque leggings paired with casual dress (and even some officewear) supplanted the fashion role previously held by pantyhose, although pantyhose remain popular as part of formalwear.{{cite news|last= Wellington|first= Elizabeth|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2008051494_pantyhose15.html|title= Pantyhose, once a fashion must, is on its last legs at
Town Hall railway station, Sydney, Australia ==Composition==