Nylon

The real star of the plastics business in the 1930s was "polyamide" (PA), far better known by its trade name, "nylon". Nylon was the first entirely synthetic fiber, introduced by
Du Pont Corporation at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.

In 1927, Du Pont had begun a secret expansion project designated "Fiber66", under the way of a Harvard chemists Wallace Carothers and Chemistry Department director E.K. Bolton. Carothers had been hired to carry out pure research, and not only investigated new materials, but worked to recognize their molecular structure and how it related to fabric properties. He took some of the first steps on the road to "molecular design" of materials.

His work led to the detection of synthetic nylon fiber, which was very powerful but also very elastic. The first submission was for bristles for toothbrushes. However, Du Pont's real target was silk, mainly silk stockings.