Socks
(specifically long stockings)

In some destinations, looking put together with your clothes matters. It can impact how people treat you, as well as how out of place you feel. While visiting Italy, we learned that everyone is dressed very well, especially near the University of Bologna. University students, meaning people in their early 20s with little money, had custom blazers made of seemingly high-quality fabric. Needless to say, a capsule wardrobe can feel very out of place. So for a backpacker, what is the compromise, or at least a good hack? Stockings and skirts.

Utilizing stockings and skirts is a way to pack light without sacrificing feminine flair. These glorified long socks are small, versatile, and just straight up girly. Wear them alone with skirts in spring or fall. Wear them over tights or yoga pants in winter with a wool skirt; this was field-tested during a winter in Scandinavia and the yoga pants made the hours outside enjoyable.

Wearing mini skirts with the stockings helps save packing space. Wearing thin stretchy shorts underneath is recommended; you’ll just feel more comfortable to not have to worry about an unpredictable breeze, and it can be windy out there. If stockings are too sexy, try tights or knee-high socks first. They’re the gateway drug to thigh-high stockings.

I didn’t know how damaging discarded tights and stockings are for the environment until I discovered a sustainable brand for them based in Sweden. Swedish Stockings is a sustainable hosiery company, and I was shocked to read the following on their website:

“Each year, 8 billion pairs of tights are produced, worn once and then discarded. This makes hosiery women’s biggest wear-and-tear clothing item.”

“After learning that traditional pantyhose are petroleum products planned for obsolescence, we started Swedish Stockings with the mission to change and influence the entire hosiery industry towards sustainable production overall.”

“Pantyhose are women's biggest consumable garment and also incredibly harmful to the environment. We started Swedish Stockings because we believed we could make a change. Sustainability and quality goes hand in hand. If we can create a product that women can wear for a longer time, then we can also buy less.”

-Swedish Stockings

So that’s concerning. One of the most versatile clothing items for packing is one of the biggest offenders. Swedish Stockings offers sustainable alternatives though, and the company is transparent in their practices, their production, and where they source materials. Most of their tights are nylon, and they offer wool and cashmere tights for cold weather. They also find new ways to use nylon waste, while using recycled materials in their stockings. The products are of superior quality and made in Italy.

While the cost is higher than a fast-fashion pair ordered off of Amazon, the stockings and tights from Swedish Stockings should last a lot longer than a few uses. Better quality items and a better environmental impact aren’t the only benefits either. Avoiding fast-fashion helps to decrease the demand for garment workers; there are roughly 60 to 90 million in the world today. They’re exploited with extremely low pay, long hours, and dangerous working conditions. If you haven’t seen the documentary, The True Cost, it’s recommended to learn more about the environmental toll and the exploitation of garment workers by large corporations.