Nylons, which were first introduced by DuPont at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, went on sale May 15, 1940. Not to be confused with panty hoses that weren’t introduced until the 1960s , nylons were a huge success and DuPont sold an incredible 64 million pairs in its first year. But as WWII raged on nylons were commandeered by the War Production Board on February 11, 1942 to be turned into parachutes, powder bags, and many more essential items.
Photo Courtesy of Bing.com
Throughout the war women had to follow the calls to “Make Do” and often or resorting to homemade solutions like tea bags to dye their legs and eyebrow pencils to create the line down the back of their legs, or purchase Liquid Stocking, a liquid leg make-up offered by Max Factor and other cosmetic companies. If you kept out of dirt and took only lukewarm showers, the applications would last three days. For women who just couldn’t do without, nylons that had once sold for $1.25 a pair, were going for $10. on the black market.
When the war was finally over women were anxious for the return of nylon stockings and in August 1945 businesses began announcing that there would be “Nylons for Christmas!” and “Nylons for New Years,” but it took time for DuPont to catch up with demand and when thousands of pairs of nylons finally did begin hitting the market in January 1946 the demand caused riots!
Macy’s in New York sold 50,000 pairs in just 6 hours and a store in San Francisco was forced to halt nylon sales when it was mobbed by 10,000 anxious shoppers. Screaming, shoving and hair-pulling were reported as common occurrences by newspapers across the country. A newspaper in Pittsburgh read “Nylon madness swept through East Liberty,” where it was reported that the line stretched for 16 blocks as 40,000 women queued up to buy only 10,000 pairs of stockings for sale. In Augusta, Georgia crowds stampeded through a store, upsetting displays and shelves in search of stockings, but in Detroit the situation was more civil, probably due to a large police presence.
Thankfully by Spring of 1946 most of the frenzy had subsided but it took DuPont three years to fully catch up with demand for the silky treat.
Lines of hopeful stocking buyers in downtown Detroit
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE WALTER P. REUTHER LIBRARY, ARCHIVES OF LABOR AND URBAN AFFAIRS, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY (THE DETROIT NEWS)
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