THE EVOLUTION OF NYLON

                 In 1931, Japan was the main source of silk for the United States, and trade relations between the two countries were breaking apart.  The  DuPont™ Experimental Station having successfully created a synthetic rubber by the name of neoprene, turned their attention and efforts towards creating a new synthetic fiber to replace silk. 
      Dr. Wallace Carothers and his colleagues researched and evaluated more than 100 different polyamides at the Experimental Station before choosing one fiber in 1935 that stood up well to both heat and solvents.  From this research Nylon emerged and was patented by DuPont in 1937.
     An article in Fortune Magazine, circa 1938 described how "Nylon breaks the basic elements like nitrogen and carbon out of coal, air and water to create a uniquely new molecular structure   of its own.  It is a completely new arrangement of matter, and the first entirely new synthetic fiber made by man. In over four thousand years, textiles have seen only three basic developments aside from mechanical mass production: mercerized cotton, synthetic dyes and rayon. Nylon is a fourth."
     DuPont introduced Nylon and nylon stockings to the public in 1939 at the World's Fair in New York as the new "miracle" fiber for women's stockings. The material was touted to be a less costly, wrinkle-free and stronger, but just as lighweight and attractive as silk and was purported to be less prone to runs and snags, although that turned out to be a false claim.  
     Commercial production began immediately and the new fiber stockings were available across the country by 1940. Quickly they garnered the nickname "nylons." Like silk stockings, nylons reached from feet to mid-thigh, and were fastened with garters and a belt. Panty hose did not arrive on the scene until the 1960s. On the first day they were available for sale, over 72,000 pairs of nylon stockings were bought in the U.S. and 64 million were sold in the first year.
     Almost as quickly as they appeared, nylon stockings were taken off store shelves. The U.S. had entered World War II at the end of 1941 and the supply of nylon as well as silk was taken over by the War Production Board to assist in making supplies such as parachutes, tents, ropes, clothing and even tires. So as a consequence nylon hosiery, which had been selling for $1.25 a pair, now went for upwards of $10.00 on the black market.
     An enormous number of products today contain or are made from Nylon including clothing, basketball nets, carpeting, fishing lines, strings for guitars, surgical sutures, tennis racquet strings, vehicle upholstery and many others. Nylon has even been to the moon.
     For all its uses, its greatest achievement has been the enhancement of some of the most beautiful women's legs in the world from Sophia Loren to Raquel Welch.