thumb|right|Women standing in line for nylon stockings outside [[Miller's Department Store in Oak Ridge in January 1946.]]

The nylon riots were a series of disturbances at American stores created by a nylon stocking shortage.

Background

Nylon was patented by DuPont in 1935. The company began manufacturing nylon stockings in 1939, and introduced them to the world at the 1939 World's Fair, worn by a model called "Miss Chemistry". The product quickly became popular in the United States, with up to 4 million pairs of stockings bought in one day.

During World War II (1939–1945), nylon was used extensively for parachutes and other war materials, such as airplane cords and ropes. As a result, the supply of nylon consumer goods was curtailed.

The riots occurred between August 1945 and March 1946, when the War Production Board announced that the creation of DuPont's nylon would shift its manufacturing from wartime material to nylon stockings, at the same time launching a promotional campaign. In one of the worst disturbances, in Pittsburgh, 40,000 women queued up for 13,000 pairs of stockings, which led to fights breaking out. It took several months before DuPont was able to ramp up production to meet demand, but until they did many women went without nylon stockings for months.

Wartime "stocking panic"

During World War II, embargoes against Japan resulted in the United States having difficulty importing silk from Japan. Eventually, the U.S. was unable to import any silk. So, DuPont thought of an idea to convince the army that nylon is a much more effective material than silk. DuPont succeeded in convincing the army, and nylon fabric became increasingly popular because of its elasticity, shrink-proof, and moth-proof material properties.

Nylon stockings became increasingly popular on the black market, selling for up to $20 (worth about $ today) per pair. Women who could not acquire nylons resorted to lotions, makeup, creams, stick cakes, and painting seam lines down their legs to give the illusion of stockings. Spray-on nylon "liquid hosiery" products were also used.

thumb|Liquid hosiery being applied to a woman's legs, [[Brisbane, 1941]]

Because nylon stockings were so widely sought-after, they also became a target of theft. In Louisiana, one household was robbed of 18 pairs of nylons.

George Marion Jr. and Fats Waller's song "When the Nylons Bloom Again" described this situation in poetic terms: In November, 30,000 women lined up for stockings in New York.

See also

  • History of clothing and textiles
  • United States home front during World War II
  • Women in World War II

References

Books

  • Meikle, Jeffrey L. (1995). "American Plastic: A Cultural History". New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
  • Peterson, Amy T. ed., Valerie Hewitt, Heather Vaughan, Ann T. Kellogg, and Lynn W. Payne (2008). "The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through American History: 1900 to the Present". Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
  • Handley, Susannah (2000). "Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution". Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Hounshell, David A. and Smith, John Kenly, JR (1988). Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R and D, 1902–1980. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Ndiaye, Pap A. (trans. 2007). Nylon and Bombs: DuPont and the March of Modern America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Chandler, Alfred D. (1969). Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise.