One thing I hear often enough from readers is how they prefer the in-store experience of shopping versus shopping online. Certainly, there are many benefits to shopping in-person, such as, not having to pay or wait for shipping, being able to see and feel the product before purchasing, or concerns over privacy when products are mailed to one's house or apartment that he or she shares with others, just to name a few.
Typically, when it comes to pantyhose, I'm an online shopper because I prefer the quality of European pantyhose and, well, I ain't in Europe. For a long time now, my options locally have been extremely limited. With few exceptions, I've found most pantyhose sold domestically to be long on price and short on quality.
However, there may just be hope on the way...maybe.
It started with Wolford which, in addition to having some boutiques local to my area, also sold their products in high end department stores near me, such as Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue. More recently, small lingerie boutiques have begun popping up around me and declaring war on the likes of Victoria's Secret. Many of these boutiques carry a very small sample of high-end pantyhose brands, such as Gerbe, in addition to their lingerie inventory.
As I continue to always keep one eye on the hosiery market and continue to insist that European pantyhose is gaining popularity stateside, I may have finally found a hosiery brand that agrees with me:
Penti. Penti is a hosiery manufacturer based out of Istanbul, Turkey. Penti has been in existence for over 60 years, but their product really took off more recently when they made vast improvements to their product quality, as well as introducing many different types of fashion hosiery to their sales lineup.
As luck would have it for me, their first location for a store in the United States turned out to be in Cambridge, Massachusetts, about a couple of miles from where I live and work. Their Harvard Square location is the first of what they hope will be many, as they've already slated their second store opening for New York City in the not-too-distant-future. As you might imagine, walking into a store like this is quite an experience for me. There is some lingerie and shapewear on display as well, but, for the most part, the store is dedicated 100% to hosiery. The walls and tables are covered with what seemed like hundreds of different styles. I was very much a kid in a candy store.
My hope is that their venture turns out to be more successful than they ever imagined, causing other hosiery brands to begin to dip their toe into the US markets. Maybe soon more people will get to experience good European hosiery for themselves and see why I've been singing their praises so much for so long.
Who knows? When I said pantyhose were coming back, maybe I actually knew what I was talking about (for once...).
