Write a brief letter in response to the following column:
DEAR ANN LANDERS: This is going to seem like a terrifically trivial problem compared to most you receive, but I’ve got to get it off my chest. I’m sure almost every woman in America has gone through this slow burn. You spend two or three bucks for a pair of new pantyhose, and within a week, you have a big ugly runner and have to throw the pair away. Or, they’re so stretchy they droop down around your knees and run within the week. Or, they’re so NON-stretchy you can’t get’ em up above your knees, and they still run within the week!
Why can’t the hosiery manufacturers figure out how to make a nylon stocking that fits with a proper degree of stretch and doesn’t fall to shreds in six days? Isn’t nylon supposed to be one of the toughest substances made by man?
To put this into economic focus: Wanda Worker spends two bucks on nylons every week. That’s over a hundred dollars a year, not to mention the aggravation and time spent running to the drugstore on a lunch hour to replace the pair that self-destructed on her way to work.
As I said, Ann, it seems terrifically trivial, but it’s maddening. You have contacts all over. Will you please ask somebody who is big in hosiery manufacturing what gives —besides my stockings, that is.
Ladder Legs in Lima, Ohio
Ann says: You really hit a hot button! I contacted four of the leading hosiery manufacturers, and I have never heard so much double-talk, triple-talk and fancy ways of saying “no comment.” All those contacted by my office asked that they not be identified—and would I please not name their companies. I am respecting their wishes.
But, of this you can be sure:
The hosiery industry has a mighty sweet thing going and has no intention of letting go. We have been ripped off, if you will pardon the pun, for lo, these many years, ladies. And they will continue to rip us off because the no run nylons, which they know how to make, would put a serious crimp in their sales. In other words, we are at the mercy of a conspiracy of self-interest. My advice is this: Shop around. Low-priced, good-fitting nylons are out there. (I wear them myself, and they look as good as the top-dollar variety. Sorry, I can’t publish the brand name.) For daily wear, buy nylons with reinforced toe and heel. One final way to get a leg up: If you rip one stocking, cut it off and sew on the good stocking from another pair that similarly failed you.