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VERIFY: Does Freezing Tights Prevent Runs?

Will freezing tights before wear prevent them from running or snagging?

VERIFY QUESTION

Have you ever bought a brand new pair of tights or pantyhose, and they looked so nice and shiny...until you managed to snag them before you even left the house?

Tights run and snag so easily. That's WFMY News 2's Meghann Mollerus was really interested to read an article circulating social media. It is from a Today Show blogger, who claims you can prevent runs in your tights if you freeze them before wearing them. Is that true?

VERIFY SOURCE

To VERIFY, we reached out to Anne Mitchell Wood from the UNCG Department of Consumer, Apparel and Retail studies. She teaches textile science and technical apparel analysis.

VERIFY PROCESS

First, Woods explained there is a scientific theory about freezing nylon. When you freeze something, the molecules stop moving. Bringing the item back to room temperature releases internal stress between molecules and makes the material very uniform. That could, in theory, allow tights/pantyhose to sustain more abuse and not run or tear.

But, this process would work only in the fiber form when the tights are in the factory being made. And, the material has to get extremely cold (for example, negative 100 degrees F). Then, it has to warm up slowly over 24 hours.

Woods contacted Unifi, the company that manufactures nylon. A sales manager explained to her that in his 43 years in the business, no one has asked him about freezing pantyhose. And, he explained nylon has too high a tenacity for freezing to work.

Woods also contacted Invista, a company that manufactures spandex. The advanced textile testing technologist said both spandex and nylon are thermal plastic. So, even if the fibers get stronger when frozen, they will revert to their original strength after thawing.

VERIFY CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can VERIFY there is not enough science to support the claim that freezing nylons prevents snags. If you try it, you might be really cold wearing them...and, well, that kind of defeats the purpose.

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