Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Snag Tights email

378 replies

WoodSageandSeasalt · 14/01/2022 10:49

Fully prepared to get slaughtered for this but here goes.

I've bought tights from Snag before (and really like them) so I'm obviously on their mailing list. I'm a shortarsed size 16-18 so very far from a supermodel.

They've emailed this morning to advertise their new knicker range with images of women wearing them in all their glory and it really wasn't what I wanted in my inbox on a Friday morning. My own wobbly cellulite covered arse is bad enough, I don't need to look at other people's.

It feels like the whole 'body positivity' thing is going too far to me, I'm all for people being comfortable in their own skin but does that have to involve sharing it with the rest of the world? Leaving aside the fact it's not generally healthy to be over a certain size - and that includes me.

OP posts:
cultkid · 17/01/2022 13:44

@SpookyScarySkeletons I agree with you

I don't really know many people that size, the models are morbidly obese. Why not like say size 10-16 for most models?

I'm a size 6 and it's just my size but I bet they wouldn't have someone who's a size 4 in the tights because oh it would be endorsing an unhealthy lifestyle when we all know being as obese as the pics on their Instagram is totally totally unhealthy and dangerous

vbacschmebac · 17/01/2022 13:49

Their Instagram looks like a fetishy porn page

Haffiana · 17/01/2022 14:04

There is very much a message of "look how good I look in these amazing tights/knickers/swimwear"

But that is OK, and would be OK IF they were indeed saying 'how good I look'. I think all clothing websites would aim for this.

However the message I am getting is "A woman can only look good if she is looking like an OnlyFans wannabee and in porny sexualised poses".

How is that is any way a body positive message for women of any size? WHO exactly benefits from porn images? Clue: it isn't women.

It is so far removed from the actual day-to-day experience and life of most women, and of their expectations of what a pair of tights will do for them.

SirChenjins · 17/01/2022 14:14

Agree with everything you’ve said in your last post @Haffiana

I always get a sense with Snag that their products are not the primary thing they’re selling - they’re very much secondary to their brand.

dudsville · 17/01/2022 14:20

That M&S last is going to slip in that position in tights.

I wonder if men's underwear (or general) clothing has also had a body positive makeover. Anyone know?

Butteryflakycrust83 · 17/01/2022 14:22

@SpookyScarySkeletons

Of course it's glamourising! A lot of their advertising is very sexual images, in fact a lot of people on this thread have described them as pornographic.

There is very much a message of "look how good I look in these amazing tights/knickers/swimwear"

How?
cultkid · 17/01/2022 14:26

@Butteryflakycrust83 because they are being painted as desireable in the photos and over sexualised but they are MORBIDLY obese and that is unhealthy

Snag wouldn't use someone as thin as me as it would be seen to glamourise an eating disorder (I don't have one I'm just slim) but having fat people seems to be ok and it is not a good message to send out

Being fat, especially that fat, is not healthy

Interesting note about the lipodema thing but I don't think all the pics of their models are ladies with it I think they are just obese women posing in offensive and lewd positions to advertise tights

TheSnootiestFox · 17/01/2022 14:30

@ExConstance

I think if Snag cater for people with lipoedema it would be a good idea for them to say so on their website. There are some characteristics about the fat deposits that would make it very difficult to get tights to fit, such as the cuff effect which ends at the ankle and they would be providing a much needed service if their tights will fit people who have the condition.
They do quite a lot on their social media. I know some of the well known faces in the lippy community (Zoe Pearce springs to mind) have modelled for them.
TheSnootiestFox · 17/01/2022 14:35

Women with lipodema can have varying opinions you know, @SirChenjins, just like thin women. Maybe the other lady isn't as advanced as me and doesn't see what I do, I dont know, I actually agree with her that some of it isn't nice to see but neither should women with lipoedema be made to feel ashamed. Either way that doesn't make either opinion any less valid.

bcc89 · 17/01/2022 14:45

Don't be silly, they're not a lipoedema underwear company. Some of those models are just obese.

SirChenjins · 17/01/2022 14:47

@TheSnootiestFox

Women with lipodema can have varying opinions you know, *@SirChenjins*, just like thin women. Maybe the other lady isn't as advanced as me and doesn't see what I do, I dont know, I actually agree with her that some of it isn't nice to see but neither should women with lipoedema be made to feel ashamed. Either way that doesn't make either opinion any less valid.
Point to where I specifically said that women with lipoedema couldn't have varying opinions? I neither inferred it, nor said it.

Of course women with any condition shown on their site or SM shouldn't be made to feel ashamed, but again, no-one has said 'women with lipoedema or any other condition who are modelling Snag underwear should feel ashamed' . I don't buy your claim that the vast majority of their models have lipoedema - is there something from Snag that says 'our models aren't obese, they have lipoedema'?

MaybeHeIsMyCat · 17/01/2022 14:52

@bcc89

Don't be silly, they're not a lipoedema underwear company. Some of those models are just obese.
And? Obese women have to wear clothes and tights too

I don't think anyone would complain if it was a size 6/8/10 bum in their inbox in exactly the same knickers

bcc89 · 17/01/2022 15:11

I wouldn't complain if it was a size 10 bum, personally. My personal bother with the company is the promotion of morbid obesity.

MaybeHeIsMyCat · 17/01/2022 15:14

But they aren't promoting it as such, just showing their sizes on people at the bigger end of their size guide
Nobody is going to see it, say I want to be a size 28 and suddenly start mainlining 10,000 calories a day
Whereas someone who is a size 28 will go "oh, tights that fit her and she looks like me, I'll buy some"

Butteryflakycrust83 · 17/01/2022 15:15

[quote cultkid]@Butteryflakycrust83 because they are being painted as desireable in the photos and over sexualised but they are MORBIDLY obese and that is unhealthy

Snag wouldn't use someone as thin as me as it would be seen to glamourise an eating disorder (I don't have one I'm just slim) but having fat people seems to be ok and it is not a good message to send out

Being fat, especially that fat, is not healthy

Interesting note about the lipodema thing but I don't think all the pics of their models are ladies with it I think they are just obese women posing in offensive and lewd positions to advertise tights [/quote]
But fat people ARE desirable? They also deserve to feel sexual, be sexual, not be sexual, while wearing whatever clothes they want. They can be healthy or not. Its really none of your business, and also has absolutely no bearing on what they wear.

There are literally hundreds of clothing sites that cater to YOUR body type.

Dont like SNAG? Dont wear them.

bcc89 · 17/01/2022 15:18

@MaybeHeIsMyCat

But they aren't promoting it as such, just showing their sizes on people at the bigger end of their size guide Nobody is going to see it, say I want to be a size 28 and suddenly start mainlining 10,000 calories a day Whereas someone who is a size 28 will go "oh, tights that fit her and she looks like me, I'll buy some"
Yeah, the company just doesn't appeal to me in the way it wouldn't if it used incredibly thin models. It doesn't show a wide variety of shapes, it doesn't show anyone my shape, it looks like 90% plus size and a lot of those look ridiculously unhealthy to me, so I won't support the company and I'm very put off by the marketing pictures.
bcc89 · 17/01/2022 15:19

They need to pick their niche and stop pretending they're for all sizes.

Butteryflakycrust83 · 17/01/2022 15:24

@bcc89

They need to pick their niche and stop pretending they're for all sizes.
But they are, but its telling that a lot of straight size women dont want to be seen buying from a company that uses fat women in their marketing.
SirChenjins · 17/01/2022 15:29

There are literally hundreds of clothing sites that cater to YOUR body type

Snag go from size 4 to size 36 - so why are most Snag models nearer the upper edges of that, and certainly in the obese category. Do they not cater to other body types? Their sizing would suggest they do - their models suggest they definitely don’t. They need to be clearer on that.

bcc89 · 17/01/2022 15:30

@SirChenjins

There are literally hundreds of clothing sites that cater to YOUR body type

Snag go from size 4 to size 36 - so why are most Snag models nearer the upper edges of that, and certainly in the obese category. Do they not cater to other body types? Their sizing would suggest they do - their models suggest they definitely don’t. They need to be clearer on that.

This. Thank you.
bcc89 · 17/01/2022 15:31

@Butteryflakycrust83 you don't know what my size is

Butteryflakycrust83 · 17/01/2022 15:32

Because there are hardly ANY tights companies that fit the upper end of the sizing, so those are the people being marketed to?

SirChenjins · 17/01/2022 15:35

So again, if they are available in sizes 4 to 36, why not an even spread across those sizes?

And let's face it, their tights are hardly the most prominent thing on many of their images, esp on their SM.

MaybeHeIsMyCat · 17/01/2022 15:38

I guess a lot of it is self selecting - if they come across as a plus size brand and people who are plus size buy them, and they choose from customer photos then that's what they end up with
Also most straight size women can buy tights off the high street so possibly wouldn't bother paying more for them or see the advertising and think not my size. And maybe snag have realised while they don't exclude anyone, theirs target audience is actually people who can't get tights elsewhere (like me! But I'm generally too small for places like the big tights company)

I know some of the skirts they were showing on different sizes

SirChenjins · 17/01/2022 15:52

But it's not just the sizing...they promote a range of colours, they have good eco credentials, they go up to 6' 5". They want to reflect all genders, ethnicities, abilities, ages and styles apparently, according to their website - so why are the vast majority of their models obese young women?

Their self selecting is excluding and/or actively putting off a substantial target audience for the reasons already given on this thread.