Swedish Stockings Sustainable Luxury Tights Made in Italy 

A good pair of tights and socks can keep a favorite skirt or dress in rotation long after the weather turns cold. Most tights are treated as disposable, though, worn a few times before a run sends them to the trash. Linn Frisinger and Nadja Forsberg founded Swedish Stockings in 2013 to make durable tights that can be worn longer and buy less of.

The brand produces its tights in Castel Goffredo, northern Italy, working with family-owned wind and solar-energy-powered factories. Most styles are knit from recycled polyamide, the dye houses recycle half the water they use, and leftover yarn is turned into samples rather than thrown away. These are Italian luxury tights made from materials and energy sources that are openly documented.

Swedish Stockings makes sheer colored, patterned, and lace tights, as well as ribbed, pointelle, and cashmere pairs for the coldest weeks. A deep red pair under a black skirt changes the whole outfit. Sheer colored tights suit a light dress in early fall, when bare legs feel too cold and opaque tights feel too heavy. When a pair is finally worn through, the brand's Recycling Club collects used tights and turns them into new material, furniture, and art. It gives these eco-friendly stockings a use well beyond the last wear.

New York winters are hard on tights, between long walks, subway stairs, and the weather. A wardrobe sewn in small runs in this city deserves a pair that survives every season, knit by a family-owned factory rather than a mass producer.