For thousands of years, humans have relied on the inherent properties of fibers found in the natural world. We used cotton, linen, sink or wool and that was pretty much it, until the 20th century. In the 19th century, the first attempts to create artificial threads for clothing were successful and the first commercial production of a synthetic fabric (rayon) was achieved in France in 1891, but it was not until the 1900s that commercially viable companies were formed. of “artificial silk”. in the United States and around the world.
Rayon production grew during the first decades of the 20th century to keep up with the demand. In the mid-1920s, textile manufacturers could buy rayon for half the price of raw silk. This was one of the most successful of the early synthetic fabrics. Gradually throughout the 20th century, the use of synthetic fabrics grew from a modest start at the turn of the century until, in the US, it accounted for almost 70% of the fiber market in the 1990s.
Nylon, the name given to a group of different synthetic polymers, revolutionized the synthetic fabrics industry. It was first introduced to the world at the 1939 New York World’s Fair and was initially used in the fashion industry for women’s stockings, which became known as “nylons.” It was widely used as a silk substitute after silk became scarce during World War II and was largely reserved for use in the war effort. When nylon stockings came back on sale after the war, many women lined up to get a pair.
After the war, the use of nylon (along with other developing synthetic fibers such as olefin, acrylic, and, in 1953, polyester) really took off. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, there was a ‘wash and wear’ revolution. Most of the 20 synthetic fibers had been discovered and attention turned to refining existing technologies. Consumers increasingly purchased acrylic blends and polyester garments realizing that they were much easier to care for than natural fiber garments.
Unfortunately, there was also a downside to natural fibers, and as the 20th century progressed, a number of safety and energy challenges arose to show a downside to counteract the obvious advantages of this whiter, wrinkle-free clothing than it did not need to be ironed. While innovations have continued and continue to appear in synthetic fibers, there has also been an increased awareness of the benefits of natural fibers and the problems inherent in the production of synthetic garments.