West European Market for Women�s Hosiery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 20, 2007 -- West European Market for Women�s Hosiery

The West European market for women�s hosiery�comprising nylon tights (pantyhose), stockings and hold-ups, knee-highs, and ankle-highs�amounts to 1.63 bn pairs a year, worth US$3.75 bn at retail level. This implies an average unit value per pair of US$2.30�although stockings are more expensive than tights while knee-highs and ankle-highs are less so.

The hosiery market has been in significant decline over the last decade. Between 1996 and 2005, sales fell by 28% in terms of volume, and by 33% in terms of value. Several factors have contributed to the decline, including the popularity of wearing trousers and jeans in preference to skirts and dresses, the trend for more hard wearing opaque products, technological advances in yarn which have also made the product more robust, fierce price competition from supermarkets which sell multipacks at low prices, and the movement of production to lower cost countries.

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