Fantasy Stockings is pleased to present this interview with CJ from TightsFashion, a UK-based website that provides comparison of hosiery brands and presents a lot of useful information and  beautiful photos.  

How did you decide to start your site?  Many people like the product, but only a few decide to go as far as you with the idea.

It might surprise visitors to TightsFashion on to know that there was a time when I had no interest in tights and knew nothing about them.   An engineer by training and careful with money by nature I was alarmed by how often my wife threw out tights and bought new pairs.  To cut a long story short I did some testing together with my wife to find a brand and style of hosiery that would offer the optimum value for money… the most durability for least cost while at the same time looking good.

TightsFashion was more of an accident than a plan.  I was experimenting with a few things relating to search engine rankings for another project and decided to set up a site in another area entirely to test the ideas.   I had some data on tights/pantyhose to hand from my earlier research with my wife so decided to use that as the content to save time and effort.

Then I was approached by a hosiery retailer wanting me to become an affiliate and carry advertising… the rest as they say is history.

Do you have any totally wild and outrageous ideas for hosiery photoshoots that you would like to create? 

I have one idea, but perhaps not one to share with your readers.  I would love to shoot a transsexual model, but in such a way that it was not apparent what she was; that is pass her off as just another young woman.

Why?  You might ask.   Well there was a rumour some years ago that a major hosiery retailer was using a model of this type on their packaging, the suggestion being that people who are genetically male don’t get cellulite.   I have no idea if that is true, but if they could get away with it then why couldn’t I.

You probably meet men who actually enjoy wearing hosiery.  Do you feel that there is a good market for men’s hosiery?

Hosiery for men is a tricky topic.   I think men make up a significant part of the hosiery buying and hosiery wearing population, particularly on-line.  The problem is that many/most of those men are not buying for reasons of fashion.

Some men are buying to keep warm or for medical reasons, a lot of specialist make hosiery has more in common with thermal underwear than fashion hosiery and on the whole I find it uninteresting.

My view is that for most men buying hosiery there is a fetish aspect and the fact that tights/pantyhose are made for women is part of the appeal.  My own view is that "female" hosiery is generally nicer to wear, and usually far cheaper to buy.

I can’t help but notice your photography skills, did you learn yourself or did you enroll in some formal training? 

Aside from a few hours of very basic tuition I am entirely self-taught as far as photography is concerned.  I would like to get a lot more time in the studio with models to try more things and to learn more. Some of my shoots are purely for learning and never get published.

I am always interested in how producers choose their models.  What is important to you and based on what criteria do you choose them?

Generally I use girls who are new to or hoping to get into modelling.  Partly this is to give new talent a chance, plus it lets me take complete control and work at my own pace.

I also try to choose models who live close by and perhaps most importantly like hosiery… the one shot I did that really disappointed me was with a model with a great body but no love of hosiery.

I avoid tattoos because they distract from the tights.   I don’t demand perfect skin as the whole point of the hosiery is to cover the imperfections.

Do you have any other interests or hobbies that you enjoy in your spare time?

I am not quite sure what "spare time" is.  I have rather a lot of hobbies and interests and not enough time to do them all.  I really enjoy hiking/walking and I often combine this with a love of travel.   I am very interested in wine and I run a wine tasting club that meets once a month… my holidays tend to be to places with vineyards too.

I enjoy working on my garden and I have a pond with koi carp.  Photography of course, outdoor rather than in the studio.

I am a member of a clay pigeon shooting club … (for those not familiar with the sport the "pigeons" are clay discs fired from a catapult launcher, they replaced live pigeons many decades ago), and a badminton club.

Why do you think that pantyhose and stockings sales declined in the past 2 decades? 

I don’t have any firm data on this, and of course I can really only look at the UK, but my feeling is that compared to 1992 the market is smaller but growing fast.   The growth in the number of on line retailers, and the success of more established sites like UKTights is testament to this.

You say that “what is right for a girlfriend and what is right for a wife are different”.  Can you explain to us how so?  In my ideal world there wouldn’t be a difference, but I realize that it may not be the case for others.

This is just an observation based on many years of experience.   A girlfriend will love it that you bought her something sexy and expensive, a wife will probably complain at the waste of money and the fact it is not the style she usually wears.  Of course it varies from woman to woman but I expect most married men will know what I mean.

You mention that in your tights review you talk about sizing.  I usually take size Medium, but I find that it really varies from brand to brand.  Why do you think they can’t just make these sizes standard worldwide to keep it simple for the consumer?

This is an easy one.   Look at the average woman in the USA.  Now look at the average Japanese woman.  Then consider the varying heights and shapes across Germany, Italy, France, Spain, UK… there is simply no way that you can make any small/medium/large system work across the whole range.   I do find it frustrating that the European size schemes all use similar notation but the sizes are different.

e.g. Kunert size IV is 44-46 in Germany, 46-48 in Italy and France and 50-52 in Russia, and what do those numbers mean anyway?

I notice that you really praise seamless pantyhose in your reviews.  Do you think that seamless would be the hosiery of the future?  I recently tried on an evening dress and realized that seams from my pantyhose were showing through the gentle fabric.