Manufacturing Process - See How Gio Stockings Are Made

Manufacturing Process

Find out how our Fully Fashioned Stockings are made…

Knitting

All of our stockings are made using 100% Nylon on original Reading knitting machines, only a handful of which are still operational in the world today. Our Fully Fashioned stockings are knitted flat on the Reading machines which are maintained by our skillful knitters. The stockings are knitted from the top of the welt and are then shaped down the leg as the number of needles are increased and decreased to create the unique hosiery to fit your legs perfectly. Each machine makes 30 stockings at one time using around 18 000 needles. The unique machines are kept between 74 and 78 degrees to ensure they run smoothly. The machines run on a continual chain which has studs pressed into the links- this tells the machine which pattern to follow depending on which heel style is being knitted. Each time a different Fully Fashioned heel style is made the machine chain is changed which is a huge operation. Once the stockings come off the machine they are glass ironed which shows up any slight imperfections.

Seaming

Every Fully Fashioned stocking is seamed individually by skilled Seam Machinists on original Union Special sewing machines. This is where the ‘finishing loop’ at the top of the Fully Fashioned stockings is created and is the way to tell whether you have a genuine Fully Fashioned stocking. This loop is needed for the Seaming machinist to be able to finish the seam by turning the welt of the stocking in a circle.

Quality Checking

Each stocking leg is then pulled over a flat leg, here the product is checked for any flaws such as snags or mismatched heel designs. This is where our stockings are seperated into Perfects and Imperfects.

Steam Boarding

The next step is steam boarding, the stockings are pulled over a flat leg, and steamed to tighten the knit and define the leg shape correctly whilst removing any creases.

Dying

This is where the magic happens, with our ever growing colour collections. All our stockings start life as Greige which is a white colour, ready to be transformed. At our dyehouse we can dye upto 5 different colours a day! Each colour goes through a testing process and is delevoped in two dye types for stockings and our Perfect Match Lingerie. Limited Edition colours are dyed in small batches of around 100 pairs whilst our core colours can be dyed in lots upto 1000 pairs.

Packing

Each individual pair of stockings goes through a number of quality control processes at each stage of manufacture. After being dyed the stockings are checked for size and paired together before being hand folded into our Gio packaging and sent out to our customers across the world.

The making of a Fully Fashioned stocking is a real art which is executed by a skilled team of people here at Gio who are passionate about continuing the original manufacturing processes in England to bring you timeless Nylon stockings giving you a touch of elegance and sophistication.

Why Choose Gio?

At Gio Stockings, we take pride in offering a wide selection of high-quality hosiery styles. Our collection includes 11 authentic Fully Fashioned Heel styles.

We are committed to maintaining the highest standard of quality throughout our manufacturing process. Our Reinforced Heel and Toe (RHT) stockings are knitted on original Pendolina knitting machines, making them a popular choice for those seeking the 1950’s look without the back seam. All of our stockings are made from 100% Nylon and are 15 denier.

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LARGE SELECTION OF STOCKINGS

We manufacture 11 different Fully Fashioned heel designs from simple to intricate plus 3 different types of Reinforced Heel designs.

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EXTENSIVE COLOUR RANGE

We offer over 30 different colours across our Core and Limited Edition ranges

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COLOUR MATCHED LINGERIE

Our Gio Perfect Match Lingerie is dyed alongside our Limited Edition colour ranges ensuring you a perfectly matched ensemble!