FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How are your products packaged for shipment?
We know that if we packaged our legwear in pink envelopes with big bright red letters that said, "Here's the pantyhose you ordered, Mister!" that wouldn't get us a lot of happy customers or repeat business. So, we send our orders in plain envelopes that don't advertise anything about the contents. Even though we're proud of our products, we recognize that some people might be sensitive about others knowing what they wear, so we try to be as discreet as we can. For orders outside the USA we are required to declare the contents on a customs form, and it is identified simply as "clothing".
How durable is ACTIVSKIN Performance Wear?
We know that men don’t have
the word “disposable” in their wardrobe vocabulary, so we can’t make our
products just like the industry generally does for women’s legwear. Instead, we use the best quality and most durable
(read “more expensive”) nylon and spandex yarns we can buy for ACTIVSKIN ,
but it pays off. Our legwear lasts substantially longer than similar items made
for women, and the cost per wearing (the economic life cycle cost) is usually much
lower. With proper care, you can expect to wear our legwear dozens of
times. Of course, wearing them under trousers protects them quite a bit; and the
heavier weight opaque tights for men usually last longer than lighter weight sheer pantyhose
for men. Care must also be exercised in washing and putting on ACTIVSKIN
(see below).
How do I wash ACTIVSKIN?
For longer life, use a mild detergent and hand wash, or machine wash ACTIVSKIN Performance Wear in a mesh bag. Wash light colors and dark colors separately to avoid staining the light colors. Hang ACTIVSKIN to dry. The high heat of dryers can cause the spandex to degrade. Do not use bleach or harsh detergents, and do not iron.
We recommend washing ACTIVSKIN before wearing them the first time. Washing is a chemical and mechanical action that will remove any residue left in the fabric from the dyeing and finishing process. The residue tends to “glue” the individual filaments and fibers together, giving the fabric an overall stiff and coarse feel to it. With washing and wearing the fabric will soften as the fibers in the yarns move independently.
How do I put on ACTIVSKIN?
For waist high legwear, the best way to put it on is to sit down and hold the garment up by the waistband with both hands so that it faces the same way you are. In many styles there is a male comfort front panel that indicates which side is front. Now gather the fabric of the right leg in both hands so that your thumbs are in the toe of the garment, and put your foot directly into the toe area of the garment. Pull the fabric over your foot and up your leg over your knee, using your fingertips, but NOT your fingernails. Do the same thing with your left leg. Now stand up and alternately pull the fabric up over your hips and waist, adjusting for a smooth and comfortable fit as you go.
For the thigh high legwear, sit down and gather the fabric of one leg in both hands so that your thumbs are in the toe of the garment. The seam of the top elastic band normally goes in back. Put your foot directly into the toe area of the garment. Pull the fabric over your foot and up your leg over the knee, using your fingertips, but NOT your fingernails. Stand up and continue pulling the fabric up to the top of your thigh, adjusting for a smooth and comfortable fit as you go. Do the same with the other leg.
Can I purchase ACTIVSKIN Performance Wear locally in stores?
We are not in retail stores. We will be evaluating retail distribution as demand for our performance wear products grows. Right now our products are only available on this web site and those of our distributors (see Links page).
What credit cards do you accept?
We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover/Novus. We also accept bank checks (not personal checks), US postal money orders (but only USA), and we have an account gls@glieberman.com at www.paypal.com. To order without a credit card, click on Customer Support above and select Order without a Credit Card.
Do You Sell to Customers in Countries Outside of the USA?
Yes, we ship everywhere in the world. We’ve had orders from every continent, including Antarctica! If you have a mailing address, we can get it there. A significant portion of our business is outside North America, making ACTIVSKIN truly a worldwide brand. Click on Shipping Costs (under Customer Support above) for more information on rates and delivery times.
We now have distributors:
In the U.K. - http://legwear4men.com
In Germany - http://www.nylons-strumpfhosen-shop.de
In Italy - http://www.taac.it
In Russia - http://www.loretta.ru
In Australia - http://www.activskin.com.au
In New Zealand - http://www.activskin.co.nz
In China - http://www.comfimay.com
Do you have a printed catalog?
Not exactly. We are an e-commerce company, and our web site is our catalog. We can change and update it frequently, avoiding the printing and mailing costs associated with conventional mail-order companies. In this way, we keep our costs down and pass the savings on to our customers. If you want a printed catalog, click on any pages here, and print them on your printer for future reference. Be sure to check back occasionally, because the web site changes frequently. An abbreviated summary catalog can be printed by clicking on the tab Online Catalog above, and selecting Printable Catalog. You need to have Adobe Reader to view it.
European hose often lists denier or decitex. What is that, a measure of sheerness? Why don’t you list the denier or decitex of your products?
Denier and decitex are product specifications that are used mostly in Europe and the UK. American manufacturers don't use them much, at least not in their advertising or on their packaging. They are NOT a measure of sheerness. They are a measure of the weight of the yarn used in the fabric. Denier is defined as the weight, in grams, of 9000 meters of yarn. Decitex is the weight, in grams, of 10,000 meters of yarn. The heavier the yarn, the bigger the denier and decitex. The terms say nothing about how the yarns are put together in the finished knit fabric, how close the knit loops are, the sheerness or opacity, or the strength and durability of the fabric. For example, in two products we sell, Style A569 is sheer and Style A869 is opaque. The first has 70 denier yarns and the second has 60 denier yarns. How is this possible? Because the opaque style has MORE yarns to make a heavier fabric. So we caution you not to get hung up with the terms denier or decitex. They really apply to yarn, not to finished fabric.
Your products are more expensive than women’s hosiery from the drug store or grocery store. Why is that?
We think ACTIVSKIN legwear is priced fairly, but it IS more expensive than the women's hosiery commonly found in grocery and discount stores. There are good reasons:
1. ACTIVSKIN is made from the highest quality Lycra® spandex and nylon yarns available, and they do cost more than cheaper yarns used in cheaper hosiery. A better comparison would be to equate ACTIVSKIN with higher quality women’s hose found in upscale department stores.
2. Bigger sizes for men require more raw materials.
3. ACTIVSKIN legwear is all made in the USA, not in Mexico or the Caribbean, where labor rates are much cheaper.
4. Some styles of ACTIVSKIN legwear have a front panel for male comfort and some styles have a fly opening, so there is extra manual labor involved in sewing.
5. The more complicated design means that production yields (percent of perfect products) is lower than for most women’s hose which is simpler in design and sewn by automatic machines which require no skilled labor.
6. The men's market is small, so we manufacture in small batches and cannot benefit from economies of scale like big retail chains can.
All these factors make ACTIVSKIN legwear more expensive to make than what you pay retail for the cheap women's hose. But, instead of comparing just the initial cost, consider the cost per wearing (economic life-cycle cost). Our product is designed to be more durable than your average women's hose, which is typically designed to last for three 8-hour wearings. Hosiery companies know that if a woman gets that kind of wear, she’s likely to buy that brand again. Our products cost more, but are more durable, and so on a cost per wearing basis they are quite comparable. However, because our products are all designed for men and male anatomy, they are much more comfortable. We don’t know how to quantify that benefit economically.
We will continue to develop products for men that are unique and provide comfort that women's hosiery cannot match. As the market grows, the prices will come down, but our prices will never be competitive with the cheapest women's hosiery.
What web browsers should I use when viewing your site?
We have attempted to accommodate the majority of web browsers available, although some older browsers just do not like to cooperate! Here is a listing of web browsers that we recommend that you use. If this does not solve the problem you are having, please e-mail us (see below) for further help.
Windows PC: Internet Explorer 6.x, Netscape 7.x or FireFox
Macintosh OSX: Safari or Firefox
Macintosh 9 and older: Latest available version of Netscape
How do I contact you?
If you have any questions, problems, or comments regarding this web site, the ordering system, or any of our product, please contact us:
By email: gls@glieberman.com (NOTE: We use a spam protection
program that will respond to your email right
away with a request for verification that your
inquiry is from a human, not a computer
generating spam. You must reply within 48 hours
or your email will be automatically deleted.)
By phone:
1-877-587-2860 (U.S. and Canada only)
1-740-587-2860 (elsewhere)
By mail:
G. Lieberman and Sons, Ltd.
Box 193
Granville, OH 43023
USA