Great customer service. Haddenham were the best firm I have dealt with so far with a faulty item. My tights had a small hole in the heel when they arrived and Haddenham sent another pair straight away and told me I could mend and keep the first pair. Fabulous super fast response within hours of my email. I really want to love their tights as I loved their service.
The Haddenham Veni tights come in a range of colours. I was able to have a chocolate brown on NHS prescription which is a very welcome change from black and beige. You can see the shade better in the pictures below.
The colour made me very happy as I felt I could pass for someone wearing a pair of ordinary brown opaque tights. These would be a good choice if you want to avoid black and "granny beige".
My skin against the tights to show that they are a nice deep, rich brown shade, and how dense the colour/texture is as it is hard to see that in the full leg images above.
Why would you spoil this nice colour by sewing the seams in black thread? Not what I want my husband to see, big black seams :( This was not a sexy look.
They also have the waistband style which is a turned over fabric to form a channel through which a piece of elastic is threaded (unsurprisingly it is black elastic). I found the elastic would do the usual turning over and folding in the wash trick so I needed to fiddle around getting it flat before wearing.
In the photo you can see that I am wearing under shorts and they are creased on my left leg and riding up. You can also see on my left leg that, despite wearing shorts, the tights were giving me a terrible little bulge right in my inner thighs below the groin. Not a nice look, nor what you want after liposuction on that area. Without the shorts the bulge was really obvious and I had a terrible under bum shelf. I've never seen a pair of tights give me that almost sharp line where the compression stopped.
I would say the panty section on these tights had no compression. On me the size I was measured to fit was too baggy (the legs fitted but even without undershorts the top was loose over my tummy) and had no compression to my hips and stomach. That might be great if you hate the feeling of compression on your abdomen (so great for eating out!) but my thighs want strong compression for support so these tights looked bad and felt bad on me. On the left you can see the first size I was given - if you enlarge the photo you can see it was wrinkling around my ankle and how there was no stretch in the panty area.
I rang the clinic and explained they felt really loose at the top and unsupportive on my thighs, so she arranged for me to be sent the next size down. Yellow top is the smaller size and red top was me in the larger size. The "knickers" you can see are my knickers, the tights are that more transparent shade all the way up. So good if you don't like a very dark panty section.
As you can see the under bum crease was terrible in the smaller size. I have never seen anything like it and I blame it on the lack of any compression in the panty area.
Here you can see that the problem I had was not the seam of the panty section starting; the tights were cutting in about 1cm below that, forming that crease under my bum. You can see the effect happened on the front too, but not as badly.
Overall, I really wanted to like these tights as they were not beige and the customer service was really good. However, I don't think I am a good match for their sizing charts as it was like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears' beds, going from too big to too small, but in my case with nothing "just right".
Personally I want tights that make my thighs feel supported when I run up stairs or take any exercise - these gave me nothing. No support, just aching thighs.
If you like the texture options and colours that their website has, and would like a loose and comfortable panty section then these may be your ideal tights. Sadly I had to give in and buy alternatives to wear as even with added shorts they would give me the funny little creases and I was concerned that this was not good for me.
As I've been looking for a stronger compression to wear for exercise, the Mediven rep at the Lipoedema UK conference suggested I try their Forte line which is still round knit but firmer than their other round knits. She kindly sent me a pair of their petite socks in this fabric so I could feel and try them to see if I would like to order a pair of the tights.
You can see the normal "medi" writing on them in pink and the nice purpose made elastic areas at the calf top and the open toe end. I like the robust and comfortable stretch in the finishing of these open ends. I think they would be comfortable for longer wear and they did feel firm.
I really liked their texture, they did indeed feel very firm but supportive and had a nice comfortable foot band. I would like to try running around with them as I imagine they would be very comfortable. The colour is the predictable "too dark for pale celtic skin" as you can see - these would not be at all discrete unless you could get a better colour match.
You can see that the sample I was sent was a petite and I am not a petite, as you would not normally stop that far below your knee!
You get the usual device with them for putting on open toed garments. It is really big so be careful it doesn't go right round the back of your heel as it will be hard to pull out through the toe. I have size 4 feet so had a bit of a tug of war when I realised I had got it up behind my ankle inside the sock!
So overall these are an interesting texture which do feel more firm than the Mediven Elegance and I think they are worth trying for sport or active lifestyles. I would need to find out about the compressive panty section to decide if I wanted to buy these as tights for my sports.
I must admit I was very keen to try Mediven Elegance. They have quite a following and they make some fabulous "Trend Colours". I haven't seen such a variety in any other make, with the exception of the colours and batik prints that Juzo offer.
I really miss wearing my coloured tights as this was my old tights drawer pre-diagnosis - almost Marie Kondo but not quite :)
NHS prescriptions generally come in black or beige, with very few other colour options. If I want the exciting Mediven colours I'll need to pay privately I think but I'm happy to treat myself as I think two pairs of tights doesn't work well for me for six months.
These
tights are in the shade called Beige. It is a little dark for my skin
tone. Not horribly so but if I had them again I would see if the NHS
prescribe the paler shade to be more discrete. The word Medi is in pink on the sole of each
foot and you can just see it in the photo.
The change between the panty and the leg section is quite comfortable in wear. They are moderately firm to get into and do wrinkle a little behind the knees if you sit around all day, but the knee crease is fairly soft. They feel quite a decent strong elastic inside so you can pull them up and pull them around by sliding your hand inside them and pushing against the surface then sliding your hand up or down to ease out a crease if you don't have gloves with you.
I recommend that you ensure you give them a good smooth out with gloves after putting them on as I find it easy to get small folds that I don't feel, eg hiding behind my ankle.
Personally I like a compressive panty section. These tights have some panty compression but I prefer to wear undershorts with them for exercise or busy days as it is distinctly less compressive than the main leg section.
They have a prominent pattern on the panty section, consisting of lines forming almost Ws. It looks OK, but I don't personally feel it improves the look.
Disconcertingly the tights have a deliberate opening in the waistband, which you can just see as a raised area by the centre seam (the label is not in the centre back but sits on your right hip). That isn't an error but is to allow you to insert extra elastic if needed (I emailed Medi to report the error so I think they should say that in the pack!). I personally quite like the stretchy waistband, it is very comfortable and so nice not to have a length of elastic turning around against the skin!
They have quite a nice smooth texture but not as soft as the Sigvaris Comfort tights. They are quite dense in texture but you can still see moles etc up close. They give your legs a generally even airbrushed textured look.
I find that personally I would prefer stronger lower leg compression as they are allowing a small "bubble" of fluid to collect on the inside of my lower legs around 1 inch above the ankle and then going up for say 2 inches. The effect goes away when the tights come off and the fluid does disperse. You can almost see the edge of it on my left leg where there is a small indentation into my lower leg. It is very slight and may not occur after the summer heat eases? I will try them in the autumn and add an update.
I do feel that my legs ache a bit after a long day sitting or on my feet in these, but again I would need to check in cooler weather to be sure if these tights are OK for me then but just not as good in summer.
Overall I like their robustness and general comfort but find them less soft and less compressive in the panty area than Sigvaris Comfort so the only way these tights are ahead of Sigvaris is their colour range. A good "number 2" choice for me, but I can see why they are so popular.
I wear these in the Class 2 but I think Class 1 are likely to be the same in the areas of my review.
My skin against the tights to show that they are a nice deep, rich brown shade, and how dense the colour/texture is as it is hard to see that in the full leg images above. 
Why would you spoil this nice colour by sewing the seams in black thread? Not what I want my husband to see, big black seams :( This was not a sexy look. 
I would say the panty section on these tights had no compression. On me the size I was measured to fit was too baggy (the legs fitted but even without undershorts the top was loose over my tummy) and had no compression to my hips and stomach. That might be great if you hate the feeling of compression on your abdomen (so great for eating out!) but my thighs want strong compression for support so these tights looked bad and felt bad on me. On the left you can see the first size I was given - if you enlarge the photo you can see it was wrinkling around my ankle and how there was no stretch in the panty area. 
I rang the clinic and explained they felt really loose at the top and unsupportive on my thighs, so she arranged for me to be sent the next size down. Yellow top is the smaller size and red top was me in the larger size. The "knickers" you can see are my knickers, the tights are that more transparent shade all the way up. So good if you don't like a very dark panty section.
Here you can see that the problem I had was not the seam of the panty section starting; the tights were cutting in about 1cm below that, forming that crease under my bum. You can see the effect happened on the front too, but not as badly.
