Zohara Full Puzzle Tight are super unique!

As we have mentioned in previous reviews of Zohara tights, they use a simple recipe of knitting one size of tights in plain, dyed in a base colour and then printing on the chosen design. The only choices are 20 or 120 denier, conventional tights or footless. These are traditional tights in 20 denier from the 2013 collection.

The window on the packet shows the black lines of the jigsaw pattern on the medium brown background so knowing the basic construction we could stop there and comment on the design but the fun of reviewing hosiery is you never know.

As expected from previous reviews we have tights made with sheer straight legs and a non-reinforced toe, the panty is a more open matt knit and finished with flat seams and a lined gusset. The panty should give a better fit if you are large in the hips (a compromise needed due to the one size strategy) and it should breathe better than the leg material.

Zohara has printed on the jigsaw design in such a way that pattern stays clear and sharply defined even when the tights are fully stretched, almost as though it is knitted in. Unfortunately, this method means you get the awkward mismatch when you try to print a pattern around a leg, so there is a bare stripe down the inside and outside of each leg. You can’t tell at first, but these tights have a front and back, so you have a pattern over your instep but not under your foot.

As for sizing and fit, well if you are a size 8, they may be a little large, but a tall size 16 will find they stretch to fit and fit well. The boxer style panty is comfortable but is it the beginning of our issues with these tights. Firstly if you are petite then the panty will probably stretch up to your armpits. Secondly, the boxer style coupled with the unprinted stretch of the leg before the pattern starts means this style will never look quite right with shorts or a very short skirt. With a careful choice of dress, and if you are precisely the right size you may manage the look pictured above, but with our test pair the pattern came up far higher.

So would we buy Zohara Full Puzzle Tights? Well yes, we would say they are very well made, a fun design and comfortable, you need to design your outfit around them with a little care.

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Celeste Stein Tropical Paisley Tights are too overpriced.

The first thing that you notice about these tights is the design, so we are going to ignore it! American maker Celeste Stein makes tights in one basic form and applies colourful designs that change month by month and season by season. Our comments regarding quality and fit will apply equally to whatever design takes your fancy.

A little care is needed in removing the packaging, as that band around the tights is not loose, but instead is sticky and stuck to the tights. Fortunately, the tights are not damaged nor left with a sticky residue, if you take it off carefully.

Once free of the packaging, these tights reveal themselves to be made sheer to waist with completely straight legs. The seam in the body is well made, but not flat (The US made hosiery almost never has a flat seam), there is no gusset. The waistband is about 2 cm deep; sadly on our test pair, the waistband was damaged on one side, a hazard of the open packaging. From our point of view, there was an upside to this damage; we could see that the waistband was formed by folding over the top of the brief and bonding it down.

Although even weight from hip to toe, there is a band of a distinctly different knit about 2 cm deep at the top of each leg, too high up for any but your closest friends to see, but disappointing.

The pattern is printed on the back and front separately, we can think of no other way of adding a pattern to a pair of white tights, but it is a pity that no effort was made to match the pattern, you see a clear line up the inside and outside of each leg. This will be less noticeable on some patterns than others.

At £12.95 these are severely overpriced tights. Pamela Mann does much the same thing at around £7.95. Buy them if you want a particular design for an outfit for a party, otherwise spend your £12.95 on some real quality hosiery.

For one size tights, the fit is not bad at all!

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Bootight Core Tights With Calf Sock is so unique!

Sometimes an idea comes along that is so obvious, you wonder why no one thought of it before, or perhaps you wonder why everyone who had the idea rejected it for reasons that are not immediately obvious. BOOTIGHTS are just such an idea.

Heavy opaque tights work well with boots, but the downside is that to get the weight you need for warmth and durability at the foot, you have to have the same at the waist and that can be somewhat warm. The usual trick is to wear socks over a pair of tights but that can be uncomfortable when the sock moves over your foot and pulling the socks up can lead to the tights restricting your toes.  Nylon tights can also be a little sweaty when they get warm and prevent any technical sock you may wear from working. An obvious solution then is to pair a technical sock made with Tactel, with a medium weight tight for the best of both Worlds.

In practice, the idea works very well indeed. The sock is good enough to pair with a fashion boot or a hiking boot, and is not just warm but shaped and padded for the ultimate in comfort.

The tights part of BOOTIGHTS is slightly less impressive than the sock part. Being made in the USA, there is no flat seam in the panty. But on the plus side, there is a cotton lined gusset, and the construction is sheer to waist.

Sizing is on the generous side. Our tester was at the upper end of size C/lower end of size D, and size D was too big. The fit was pretty good although there was little evidence of “all over control”, no bad thing as not everyone wants to be squeezed. Colour is good and even throughout.

There are two lengths of sock available, mid-calf as reviewed here and ankle. Our tester would have preferred a more extended option as with knee-length boots the zipper was above the sock and so the more sheer material was prone to wear reducing the life expectancy of the tights

If you are a habitual boots wearer in winter and want to have warm, cosy feet, then these tights are for you, particularly if you favour ankle or calf length boots. No doubt this idea will be copied by others, bettering the sock used here will take some doing.

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Luisa Maria Lugli 20 Denari are a must-wear!

It is not often that we approach a pair of tights with no idea what to expect, but this is a fantastic sample we have seen from Luisa Maria.

The packet notes fill us with hope, and it is good to see a brand still using four sizes rather than the increasingly common 2. The large size has a comfort gusset/back panel rather than the cotton gusset of the smaller sizes.

First impressions are excellent, and these 20 denier tights feel light, smooth and soft. Detailing is good too, with a sheer reinforced toe and a run stop so that holes in the toes don’t become ladders in the leg. The legs are shaped at the heel.

Sheer to waist construction with flat seams in the panty. There is just a narrow band of heavy material to give strength around the seams, which is contiguous with the finger band. In the large size, the rear panel is the same heavyweight. The waistband is quite deep at 3.5 cm.

The sizing is accurate with enough stretch to go beyond the suggested sizing, but note that both the medium and large sizes are recommended to fit heights up to 5’8”. If you are tall or very long in the leg then sadly these tights are not for you.

The fit is excellent, and the finish is flawless, smooth to the touch and just a hint of shine to catch the eye. It is indeed a brand we want to see more of!

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