Designers put their best legs forward during Olympus Fashion Week in New York. Many models wore cropped leggings, opaque tights or bright printed legwear on the runway, rather than sporting the bare-legged look that's been en vogue for the past several seasons. Big-name designers, including Zac Posen, Anna Sui, Kenneth Cole, Marc Jacobs and Carolina Herrera, all featured some sort of legwear in their collections. The return of hosiery to the runway has many in the industry thinking that sales might pick up some pace.

"We're happy that they are addressing legwear again on the runways," said Mimi Merkin, director of design for legwear at Kayser-Roth, the parent company to the Hue and No nonsense brands. "We're hoping that this will translate down into the mainstream, and that people will pay attention and use hosiery as part of their everyday fashion."

According to the latest NPD Group data, overall sales of legwear, including socks, hosiery and tights, fell 5.3% for the year ended Aug. 31, 2005. However, the industry sees hope in the latest trends to hit the runway.

"We're seeing a lot of darker and muted colors, opaque tights in lapis blue, eggplant, tea green, purples, pinks, heather grey, chocolate brown and, of course, black," Merkin said. "And cropped tights and leggings are huge as well."

Mainstream brands and department stores are starting to pick up on this trend as well. Hue's fall 2006 collection includes both a capri and ankle-length cropped legging. Spanx, which sells in specialty department stores, sells low-rise cropped sheer hosiery in its collection. Dillard's sells 19 different varieties of its Copper Key leggings in its girls' and juniors' departments. JCPenney sells ankle-length cropped Mixit leggings for $22 per pair in its women's department.

Function is also of crucial importance for legwear for fall. According to Merkin, newness for hosiery this season comes not through new prints or textures, but from new fabrication. In the Hue brand, the company is focusing on using finer yarns, such as cotton modele, microfiber, bamboo and silk, to elevate the quality of the product. Sweater yarns for leggings will also be important.

Technology and comfort will continue to be crucial elements for ho-siery in the mass channel. No Nonsense's Smart Support hosiery uses Lycra Leg Care, and its Silky Support label focuses on customer comfort by providing extra-soft fabrication. L'Eggs, which is owned by Hanes, sells Sheer Vitality anti-cellulite hosiery that releases microcapsules, which help lessen the appearance of cellulite. The company reports that 64% of users have reported a reduction of the appearance of cellulite with the product.