The Nylon Riots

Nylon is a generic term for a group of synthetic polymers known as aliphatic polyamides, first produced in 1935 by Wallace Carothers whilst working at the Du Pont research facility in Delaware, USA. Although it was initially manufactured as a type of hard plastic and used commercially in nylon-bristled toothbrushes, its most famous application came after it was produced in the form of an artificial silk fabric at the New York World's Fair in 1939. After this date, silk stockings gave way to nylons and female legs would never be the same again.

Immediately popular and in extremely high demand, women in the US and elsewhere went mad for nylons and many millions of pairs were sold and worn with delight. Unfortunately, however, after America finally entered World War II, Du Pont were obliged by government order to cease production of stockings and use the new wonder material for parachutes and other such items required by the military. 

Thus, during the war, women had to make do with old or second-hand stockings; or, if push really came to shove, they resorted to a clever use of cosmetics and painted seams on bare legs in order to create the illusion that they were wearing nylons. 

Not surprisingly, stockings became increasingly sought after and (often stolen) pairs could sell for up to $20 on the black market. American women were desperate for the fighting to end, so that they they could have their menfolk back home and - just as vitally - nylons would be easily available once more. So desperate were they in fact to own new stockings, that when Du Pont shifted its production back to stockings post-war, it resulted in what have become known as the Nylon Riots.

One of the largest disturbances was in Pittsburgh, where 40,000 women queued for 13,000 pairs of stockings, inevitably leading to disappointment, hair-pulling, and eye-scratching. Following similar trouble in Augusta, Georgia, a local newspaper ran with the headline: 'Women Risk Life and Limb in Bitter Battle for Nylons' and reported how crowds forced their way into stores and knocked over display counters as well as each other.

Du Pont, who had promised that all women would be able to have new nylons by Christmas, were obliged to revise their forecast. Indeed, it took several months to finally bring production in line with the frenzy of demand, thereby bringing the mass cat-fights to an end. 

The point is this: it's not just men who love nylons; women too know that bare legs lack magic and that one ultimately gets the greatest joy of all out of a pair of really lovely stockings.