Eliot, Maine, Company Sells Tights over the Internet, Survives Other Dot-Coms.

Byline: Matt Wickenheiser

Dec. 27--ELIOT, Maine--Amidst the now-cooled wreckage of the dot-com collapse grows an unlikely local survivor.

TightsOnLine.com, founded by Judy Rasmussen and Laurel McEwen in 1998 when e-commerce was just beginning, is thriving alongside the virtual bones of ToySmart.com, BroadcastAmerica.com, WebVan.com and other dot-bombs of the late 1990s.

"Conceptually, it's weird that it's this hokey little company in Eliot, Maine," that has done so well while many better-known companies have collapsed, said Rasmussen. "But we're it."

The company sells high-quality, natural-fiber European tights from manufacturers in Sweden, Germany and Denmark. It offers about 50 styles of tights for children and adults, with 10 colors. So, it's got a total selection of 500 -- from silk to heavy wool, bright rainbow stripes to tasteful black. It …