Tuesday 22 May 2012

Spotlight on ACTIVtights.com

ACTIVtights.com is a web store based in the Czech Republic, specialising in men's tights and pantyhose.

As part of the Hosiery For Men series of profiles of retailers of men's tights and other legwear, I am pleased to publish this interview with Vladimir Dudak, the owner of ACTIVtights.com.




Can you provide Hosiery for Men readers with some background information about the ACTIVtights store? When did you open it and why?
The ACTIVtights.com store opened in summer 2010. The aim was to provide hosiery products for men and women from Czech based companies. The main brands stocked are Aries and Ela.

I had an idea for for several years to open a store with products for men. I spent quite a lot of time lobbying Czech hosiery manufacturers to bring their products for men to the market in the Czech Republic. In a meanwhile I tested many kind of tights for men manufactured overseas and saw that Czech products could compete on the global market. Since then this has been confirmed by our customers.

Do you feel that tights for men are becoming more popular? Is this a trend in the Czech Republic? Are tights for men particularly popular there? 

From my point of view, I would say yes. I see that people are more and more open to this trend; that men also can wear tights. I’m personally someone who has worn them for years now.

Last month an article on tights for men appeared in one of the most popular newspapers in Czech Republic.

It is interesting that there are at least two manufacturers of men's tights in the Czech Republic: Aries and ELA. Does that reflect local needs or are these manufacturers responding to a wider demand in Europe and further afield? 

Good question. I personally communicated with manufacturers a lot around years 2002 and 2003. Also I led a massive campaign in a forum at one of the biggest Czech website related to fashion www.moda.cz and a lot of people came and joined me that time. Also manufacturers noticed that, and the first one was I think Evona, who brought out sheer hosiery products for men. Since that time I think other manufacturers have realised that a lot of male customers worldwide would want products specially designed for men.

How do you choose which brands of men's tights to stock? 

We’ve chosen only Czech companies, which make tights and pantyhose for men. And in addition both Aries and Ela have products which are competitive in relation to the world market. Both companies offer products with antimicrobial treatment. Aries using Sanitized ® Silver; Ela uses Meryl ® Skinlife. Both work well and provide big advantages, compared to products from other brands.



ACTIVtights also sells compression tights. Do you feel that these provide particular benefits to men? Yes, definitely. Support tights and pantyhose help people with varicose veins to spend all day long in comfort. Varicose veins is medical issue, which doesn't discriminate between men and women. That's that’s why these products fit both sexes.

Many men continue to buy tights that are designed and made for women. What do you feel are the advantages of tights that are made specifically for men? The only advantage is from my personal view, that there is much bigger choice in colors and designs. I personally wore products designed for women for several years, but they don't really fit as well, particularly in the waistband area. Hopefully in few years, there will be a much bigger choice in products designed for men too.

Which tights are your bestsellers? 


1. Aries Goldwear Support 70

2. ELA Patrik 40 DEN

3. ELA David 20 DEN 







Do you feel that the market for men's tights is a growing one? Is that reflected in your sales? 

We can see that more and more fashion designers using pantyhose on male models. This predicts, that in near future we can expect more acceptance this kind of apparel as a mainstream item of clothing for men. This may also mean that more men are happy to wear hosiery openly.

What developments can we expect in the future at ACTIVtights? Are you planning to market any new styles? 

Since ACTIVtights.com is not actually hosiery maker, the new styles are not planned by us. However we are open to any kind of proposals from our customers, which we can present to manufacturers and then discuss with them about possible new styles.

Many thanks for speaking to Hosiery For Men Vladimir. I hope readers will check out the ACTIVtights store.

1 comment:

  1. I tried them a few month back and I find them very good.
    Now I wear them 24/7 wish no dramers.

    pity for men don't entertain the idea.

    ReplyDelete