Pantyhose for men

In American English, the term pantyhose generally refers to hosiery traditionally worn by women since their introduction in 1959, however some manufacturers also produce pantyhose for men, or, colloquially, mantyhose, brosiery, or guylons.

In 1996 L'eggs, a US pantyhose company, opened a storefront together with a product-related bulletin board on the web. They soon discovered that most of the visitors talking about their products were men. After conducting a survey in 1998, the company came to the conclusion that, in fact, many men were wearing pantyhose as a regular clothing item, and would buy leggings in a well-targeted male product range, if it existed.

Based on this survey and other market research, G. Lieberman & Sons (GLS Hosiery) began to manufacture and market ComfiLon in 1999, which became Activskin in 2002. Comfilon/ActivSkin was so successful it inspired Levee, a German pantyhose manufacturer to create a unisex product line called WoMan in 2002. Wolford, an Austrian luxury hosiery manufacturer also introduced 'Waistsocks' for men. Nearly every year since then at least one manufacturer has entered the market with a male product line, such as Collanto in Germany and Gerbe in France.

To manage public relations and serve as spokesman for issues related to men's pantyhose in the U.S. media, GLS hired Steve Newman in 2009. The company expects to reach a tipping point in the near future with respect to public perception and growth of the male pantyhose and tights trend. As an addition to the constantly expanding family of men's legwear manufacturers, there is another producer in Eastern Europe called Tim Legwear that is testing the local market with men's tights and leggings. Men's tights also account for 2-3% of the business of Italian legwear designer Emilio Cavallini.

The market for men's pantyhose has continued to grow steadily since 1999. While ActivSkin, the leading seller of male pantyhose and tights, does not release specific sales data, they now sell to customers worldwide in 76 countries and have reported growth each year since their inception. An important component of that growth is continued expansion of public awareness of this phenomenon. On March 14, 2012, Forbes magazine indicated that mantyhose could be the next billion dollar undergarment idea.

Men who wear pantyhose as a regular item of clothing have come to the attention of the media with increasing frequency since 2002, beginning with a front page Wall Street Journal article on the subject, entitled "Kingsize, Not Queen: Some Men Are Taking to Wearing Pantyhose". Some of the reasons for wearing them include:

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