Why do tights have 2 seams at the back?

As a child, when I went to kindergarten, I often put on tights with the wrong side. Mom once again grumbled and said that they had two stripes on the back especially for absent-minded people like me, so that I wouldn’t forget which side to put on. Now, when I was already putting on nylon tights, I started thinking, why do children’s tights have two seams at the back, but adults don’t, and why are they there?

How did the 2 seams on the back of the tights appear?

The transition from stockings to tights occurred during the prosperity of rock and roll. It was not convenient to dance fiery rhythms in stockings, so the production decided to combine the pantaloons and stockings into one piece. But then why do tights have two seams at the back, but pantaloons do not?

Before the advent of elastane and other highly stretchy materials, women's tights included cotton, but it does not stretch at all. The product had to fit tightly around the leg.Since the volume at the back is somewhat larger, they began to sew a wedge-shaped part into it in order to add volume and prevent the material from cracking at the seam.

Reference! The two stripes are nothing more than seams. Nowadays only children's models are made from cotton, which is why two stripes remain on them.

There are other seams. Remember how our grandmothers used to draw stripes on their legs with a black pencil, depicting tights. In the post-war era, having a pair of stockings in your wardrobe was a luxury. So they had to improvise a little. Two seams at the back along the entire length of the leg in modern models play a decorative role. But earlier, when the production of stockings was just beginning, two seams at the back were made by gluing nylon fabric, then machines appeared that could knit the fabric in a circle and the manufacturing technology changed, along with the design.

Why are there 2 seams at the back?

The seams in the back of the tights also have a disadvantage - after repeated washings, the wedge-shaped part tends to stretch out and sag, this really spoils the appearance. And if they are made of low-quality material, then this happens quite quickly and this defect cannot be corrected.

Now the presence of two stripes on the back of the tights indicates that the item is not of very high quality. Most often, manufacturers produce models that have no seams at all. Such products fit the leg very tightly and are completely invisible. With them, you can even wear a semi-transparent dress with a close-fitting silhouette, and no one will know what you are wearing underneath.