Why nylon is important

A limited supply of the first pairs went on sale in Wilmington, Delaware, in October , but the stockings did not reach the national market until 15 May In DuPont produced 2. The liberal access to nylon hosiery that American women enjoyed proved short-lived. Nylon would eventually be used in glider tow ropes, aircraft fuel tanks, flak jackets, shoelaces, mosquito netting, and hammocks.

DuPont jumped back into consumer nylon production almost as soon as the war ended, with the first pairs of stockings returning to stores in September Perhaps the most extreme instance occurred in Pittsburgh in June , when 40, people lined up for over a mile to compete for 13, pairs of nylon stockings. We had to make sure customers who wanted nylon had the money to pay for it. Everybody wanted nylon.

Nylon stockings represented only the beginning of what would soon become a fashion revolution. Cheap and colorful, synthetic fibers offered the promise of an easy-care, wash-and-wear, disposable future. Because the variety of synthetic fibers was basically limited to viscose rayon , acetates, polyesters, and polyamides, manufacturers realized early on that the key to their success lay in branding their specific products as unique.

Generic DuPont nylon was soon joined in the marketplace by Bri-Nylon, Dacron polyester , Terylene polyester , Crimplene polyester , Orlon acrylic , Acrilan acrylic , Tricel acetate , and seemingly dozens more.

DuPont developed a particularly sophisticated approach to marketing its synthetic fibers. From the earliest days of its rayon production DuPont realized that if it was to capture the textile market it needed to capture the hearts of Parisian couturiers. By the mids the group was producing well over 1, fabric samples each year. DuPont salesmen then attempted to sway fashion designers by providing them with generous samples and free publicity.

Their first dramatic success occurred at the Paris fashion shows, in which at least 14 synthetics featuring DuPont fibers appeared in gowns from Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, and Christian Dior.

To heighten the glamour DuPont recruited fashion photographer Horst P. By the late s synthetics had moved firmly off the runways and into the mass markets—and therein lay their downfall.

Victims of overexposure, nylon and polyester seemed suddenly out of date, and their shiny luster started to look tacky. Although synthetic fibers regained some of their popularity in the s as technical innovations improved their feel and performance, never again would synthetic fibers dominate the market as they did in the s and s.

Yet nylon is here to stay. We may not be wearing it as much, but in one form or another nylon surrounds us in our homes, offices, leisure activities, and transportation. Hach Gallery in August What makes a Stradivarius so special? Parts made of nylon are often used in mechanisms that rotate or slide due its low coefficient of friction.

It is used to make bearings for the appliance industry because of its excellent abrasion resistance. Nylon is used in cookware since it has a relatively high continuous service temperature.

These include spatulas, slotted spoons, turners, forks, tongs, brushes, etc. Easy to dye, nylon cookware can be color co-ordinated with kitchen decor. Nylon cooking tools are gentle on non-stick surfaces. Companies such as OXO and Caphalon have used nylon for their cookware products.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of nylon is that it can be made into strong fibers. When these are woven together a silky, lightweight fabric is produced. Nylon fabric became important as a synthetic substitute for silk in the manufacture of parachutes when silk became scarce during WWII.

Nylon is still used today to make parachute canopies due to its elasticity , strength , resistance to mildew, availability and price. However, the use of nylon fibers does not stop with the fabric. Harness straps and suspension lines are also made from nylon fibers as well as tents, sleeping bags, sails, rope, tennis strings, fishing poles and lines, etc.

Today nylon is the most common fiber for textiles and it is one of the strongest and most common fabrics on the market.

Why such uproars? Even in its early incarnations, nylon was stronger than silk and far more sheer than cotton or wool hosiery, says Sid Smith, president of the National Assn. And by the mids, nylon panty hose had began to free women from stockings held up by garters.

A similar revolution occurred with socks. With stretch nylon yarn we could make one sock that would stretch to fit a range of sizes. Form-fitting hosiery also played havoc with our notions of sexiness, in the view of Loretta Haroian, dean of the faculty at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. Even for the most common women, lingerie lost the utilitarian, Sears-catalogue look and took on the sexual seduction images that women read about in stories.

Robert Pante, the outspoken, San Francisco-based fashion consultant, agrees. For some things, the introduction of nylon proved to be such an unequivocal advantage that natural fibers have never been used again. The nylon parachute is a case in point. Parachute Assn. Thanks to nylon. Van Gelderen, president of the Carpet and Rug Institute. William Rea and Jean Enwright.