Lycra stockings are not what they seem

In 2000, more than 5 million imported ladies’ stockings were fake, Aectra Romania, local dealer of DuPont multinational, originator of elastan (a very flexible artificial fibre) and the only Lycra manufacturer worldwide, yesterday said.

In Romania, the total annual ladies’ stockings market reaches 40 million, half of which are imported. The prices range from 5,000 lei to 150,000 lei, but exceptional quality products can fetch about 600,000 lei.

“Given that the market here is yet at the beginning, the underground economy has created smuggling networks which encouraged manufacturing poor quality items, but mainly imports of second-rate stockings,” Dan Popescu, Aectra Romania manager, said.

According to the Aectra representatives estimates, the stocking sales in Romania will increase up to 100-120 million pairs per year. The Aectra manager added that Romanian women used only six stockings per year, while the European Union uses 20 stockings per woman every year.

The tests conducted by DuPont and the Office for Consumer Protection shed light on the extent of the forgery and abuse in the use of Lycra trademark.

“Most of the Lycra trademark abuse cases were registered by importers, who sell counterfeit products, damaging consumers, DuPont company and stockings makers in Romania this way,” Popescu added.