Tights and hosiery are the shortest-lived things in most wardrobes, and the usual explanation is that they are simply flimsy. They are, but the way they are washed and dried shortens their life by a large multiple, and changing that costs almost nothing.
What they are made of
Nearly all modern hosiery is a knit of nylon and elastane, sometimes with wool or cotton added for opaque winter tights.
The nylon provides strength and the smooth surface. The elastane provides the stretch and the recovery, meaning the ability to return to shape after being pulled.
The knit structure matters as much as the fibre. Hosiery is knitted as a continuous loop structure, which is why a single broken filament does not stay a small hole. The tension in the surrounding loops pulls it open into a run, and the run travels because each loop was holding the next one.
So a snag is not a small problem that stays small. It is the start of a structural failure.
The three things that shorten their life
Heat. Elastane degrades with heat, and hosiery is mostly elastane by function even where it is not by weight. A dryer is the fastest way to kill a pair of tights, and hot water is the second.
Snagging. Anything in a load with a hook, a zip, a rough seam, or velcro will catch hosiery. Denim rivets and bra hooks are the two usual culprits.
Being stretched wet. Wet elastane is more extensible and weaker, so hanging wet tights by the waistband stretches the legs under the weight of the water and they dry longer and slacker than they started.
The mesh bag rule
A mesh laundry bag is the single most effective thing you can do for hosiery, and it costs a few dollars.
It stops the tights tangling around other items, which is where most snags happen. It keeps them away from hooks and zips. And it prevents the twisting that stretches the leg out of shape during the spin.
Use a fine mesh bag rather than a coarse one, since coarse mesh lets a toe work through and catch.
Do not overfill it. Two or three pairs per bag, so water moves through them.
Hand washing, which takes three minutes
This is what actually extends their life, and hosiery washes faster than almost anything else because there is so little of it.
Cool water and a small amount of gentle detergent in a basin.
Submerge and swish gently for a minute. Never rub hosiery against itself, which abrades the filaments.
Let it sit for five to ten minutes.
Rinse in clean cool water until no suds appear.
Press the water out between your palms or between two towels. Never wring and never twist, which is what breaks filaments and starts runs.
Machine washing without damage
Perfectly acceptable with the right setup.
Mesh bag, always.
Cold water, delicate cycle, low spin.
A mild detergent, and only a little. Excess detergent leaves residue that stiffens the elastane.
Never with towels, denim, or anything with hardware.
Never fabric softener, which coats the fibres and reduces the elastic recovery you are trying to protect.
Never chlorine bleach, which attacks nylon directly and yellows it.
Drying
Never a dryer. This is the rule.
Lay them flat on a towel, or drape them over a rail folded at the waist so the weight is distributed rather than pulling on the legs.
Do not hang them by the waistband, and do not peg them by the toes.
Air dry away from direct heat and direct sun. Ultraviolet degrades nylon and elastane both.
They dry in a couple of hours, which is why the hand-wash routine is realistic rather than aspirational.
Making a pair last
Put them on properly. Gather the leg down to the toe and roll it up rather than pulling from the waistband, which is where most first-wear ladders start.
Take rings off first, and file down rough nails and rough skin on your heels, which is a genuine and underrated cause of snags.
Rotate pairs rather than wearing the same ones repeatedly, because elastane recovers its shape with a day of rest.
Store them rolled or laid flat in a drawer rather than balled up and jammed in with other items.
Wash them after every wearing. Body oil and salt degrade elastane, and hosiery holds both against skin all day.
Stopping a run
A run that has started can be stopped from travelling further, though the damage already done does not reverse.
Clear nail varnish at both ends of the run bonds the loops and holds it. Hairspray works less well and washes out.
Do it as soon as you notice, because a run grows every time the fabric flexes.
A snagged loop that has not yet run can sometimes be worked back with a needle from the inside rather than pulled, which would break it.
Opaque tights and wool
Thicker opaque tights are more forgiving but the rules are the same, and the elastane content is often higher rather than lower.
Wool tights need a wool-safe detergent with no enzymes, since enzymes digest protein fibre. They also felt if agitated, so hand washing is close to mandatory.
Turn opaque tights inside out to wash, which puts the abrasion on the inside face rather than the visible one and keeps them looking black rather than grey.
The Lakewood part
Two local conditions matter here.
The air along the Front Range is very dry, and dry air is hard on elastane in a slow way. Fibres that lose moisture become less pliable, and hosiery stored for months in this air can feel brittle when it comes out. It also makes static a constant problem with synthetic hosiery, and the usual fix, fabric softener, is exactly the thing that ruins the elastic. A light spray of water on the inside of a skirt or a lining does more than any laundry product will.
The second is the sun. Ultraviolet at altitude is more intense than at sea level, and both nylon and elastane are degraded by it directly. Drying hosiery on a sunny windowsill or a south-facing balcony, which is tempting because it is so fast here, weakens the fibres and fades black tights to grey. Dry them indoors or in shade, where the dry air still gets it done in a couple of hours.
Colorado winters are the compensating factor, in that opaque tights get heavy daily use from October through April, which makes the rotation habit worth building. Three pairs rotated outlast five pairs worn consecutively.
The rest of the load
Hosiery wants to be kept entirely away from the heavy laundry, and the heavy laundry wants the room and the water that hosiery does not.
The machines at our self-service laundry on South Wadsworth Boulevard let you set a genuinely gentle cycle with a low spin as a separate choice, and give the towels and denim their own drum where they cannot snag anything.
Our machines and the store are cleaned daily.
Nou wash-dry-fold service covers the everyday laundry.
The short version
Hosiery is a knit loop structure, so one broken filament becomes a run rather than a hole. Heat, snagging, and being stretched while wet are what shorten its life, and a mesh bag addresses the second of those for a few dollars. Hand wash in cool water for a few minutes, press dry between towels, and never wring or twist. If you machine wash, use a fine mesh bag, cold water, a delicate cycle, and a low spin, and keep hosiery away from denim, towels, and anything with hooks. Never a dryer, never fabric softener, and never bleach. Rotate pairs, since elastane recovers with rest.
WaveMAX Lakewood is at 1090 S Wadsworth Blvd, easy to reach from Lakewood and the surrounding area. For the loads that need their own drum, our Laverri sèvis poukont ou is open to walk in.