If you're looking for black footless tights, you can get them in microfibre weight (the thin kind of tights) from just about any skating or dancewear company that sells tights. I have some black footless skating tights from Danskin that I love. (Sorry I don't know the style #.) I also have some heavyweight Mondor black footless tights (very thick but not made of sweater-y knit, so they're nice and sleek). They're very warm and don't creep up over the edge of my boot (the thinner ones sometimes do, so I buy those one size larger).

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Man those pants are expensive. *sigh* The only athletic pair of pants I had to steal from my dad when he got them free with his subscription of Sports Illustrated. Sadly those are too baggy to skate in ;_;.

BTW what's the difference between lycra and velvet? I know Velvet is the stuff they use to mark off museum exhibits and Lycra is made by dupont. But there must be be something more important (forgive my ignorance).

EDIT: Lycra is actually made by INVISTA.

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The spotted bird flies
Rising through winds of turmoil
I am not regret.

OH! A bazaar. Here (perhaps it's a Texas thing), we call them Charity (or Church, or whatever) Bazaars.

Does your local skating club have a second hand sale? - there may be something available there quite cheaply. Good skaters who compete regularly often sell off old costumes they won't wear again as it doesn't suit their new music. You probably dont get mens pants so often but there's also less competition to buy them. My son got a pair of plain black good quality stretch gaberdine type for (UK) £3 that he wore to the Novice championships!

Lycra (brand name but often used generically) or elastane, is a stretchy knit-type fabric which you can get in loads of colours and prints, different weights and finishes (matt or slightly shiny). You can get a heavyweight matt one for trousers. It doesn't fray when cut.

Velvet is a material with a cut pile. It can be non-stretch which is not good for skating, 1-way stretch which is usable but not ideal, or 2-way stretch which is best for skating apparel. Plain velvet has a pile so that it looks different depending whether the pile is running up or down. Crushed velvet looks more similar any way up, the pile runs in all directions.

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'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

You can skate in regular men's slacks if they have enough lycra (should be 5% or more). Just steer clear of the pleated style-too much fabric IMHO!

Revella Skate Wear has men's skating pants that are more affordable than Del Arbor-don't know about the quality though:
http://www.revellawear.com/pages/clo...ear/index.html

And, if you are daring you can wear women's pants! I have heard of guys doing that, and frankly, I don't think anyone would be able to tell the difference today (I have clothes that fasten right over left AND left over right and the same with the zippers....) as clothes are becoming more unisex in manufacture.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!