Thirty Years Later, the Market Has Changed

In 1969, when the original Leggs marketing plan was being written, the market environment was ideal for the launching of a major new brand of pantyhose in supermarkets and drugstores. One of the biggest fashion trends of the times was the miniskirt, which made pantyhose almost a necessity. In addition, large numbers of women were entering the workforce for the first time, and hosiery was considered part of proper working attire in that era. Finally, there was no major brand of pantyhose in the food and drug channels at that time, leaving a perfect void for Leggs to fill.

In 2003, Leggs was the largest brand of pantyhose in the world, with over 50 percent market share. However, Leggs was operating in a far different market environment in the twenty-first century. The incidence of pantyhose usage among women was over 90 percent in 1969, but it had dropped to only about 60 percent in 2003. That is a drop of about a third of the user base. The primary reason for this decline in the pantyhose market was a shift from formal to casual clothing (i.e., pants) in the workplace that began in about 1992.

In 2003, the younger generation had not grown up with pantyhose as part of their everyday work uniform. The baby boomers who had been part of the explosion of the pantyhose market in the early 1970s were now beginning to retire and leave the workforce. The younger women who were taking their place were not buying a lot of pantyhose. The casual lifestyles of the new millennium led to a trend to the use of slacks, which did not require traditional pantyhose, or bare legs.