Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:32:29.513Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Styling Synthetics: DuPont's Marketing of Fabrics and Fashions in Postwar America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2011

Regina Lee Blaszczyk
Regina Lee Blaszczyk
Affiliation:
REGINA LEE BLASZCZYK is an independent scholar affiliated with the Department of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania and the Hagley Museum and Library.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Scholars have studied innovation from various perspectives, but few have considered the interaction between big business and the fashion marketplace. This study examines the efforts of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company to create and expand the American synthetic-fibers market after World War II. DuPont described this work as transforming the “relatively simple ‘art’ of selling fabric” into the “complicated ‘science’ of marketing.” This process involved developing in-house marketing expertise and reaching out to sources as disparate as American fabric designers, Parisian couturiers, Seventh Avenue manufacturers, southern textile giants, and mass-market retailers. To promote the “wonders” of synthetic fibers, DuPont relied on “fashion intermediaries” to determine what customers wanted and how its fibers could meet those needs. This study suggests that the mass-market success of DuPont's synthetic fibers owed as much to creative marketing, styling, and performance as it did to industrial research and organizational innovation.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 80 , Issue 3: Fashion and Style , Autumn 2006 , pp. 485 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Gomer H. Ward, “Status Report on Stretch,” speech delivered in New York City, 5 May 1964, box 73, acc. 84.259, Public Relations Files, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, New York, in Pictorial Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del. [hereafter cited as PR-HML]; “Big Gains Predicted for Stretch Fabrics,” New York Times [hereafter cited as NYT], 10 May 1964.

2 “Stretch and the American Concept of Comfort in Fashion,” American Fabrics [hereafter cited as AF] 63 (Winter/Spring 1964): ii–iiiGoogle Scholar. On casual living, see Ehrenreich, Barbara, The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment (New York, 1983)Google Scholar; and Frank, Thomas, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (Chicago, 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 The United States dominated world chemical production during the postwar era. For 1962, global output divided as follows: U.S., 44.9 percent; U.S.S.R., 13.1 percent; Germany, 8.2 percent; Japan, 7.3 percent; U.K., 6.9 percent; France, 5.6 percent; Italy, 5.6 percent; the rest was produced by Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, and Spain. See Ilgen, Thomas L., “‘Better Living Through Chemistry’: The Chemical Industry in the World Economy,” International Organization 37 (Autumn 1983): 655CrossRefGoogle Scholar; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C., 1975), 674Google Scholar.

4 On the New York office, see “DuPont to Stay at Empire State,” NYT, 1 Sept. 1964.

5 Edwin A. Gee to Executive Committee, “Textile Fibers Department,” 8 July 1976, box 2, series 2, acc. 2232, Edwin A. Gee Papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington.

6 Throughout this article, I use the term “fashion” in reference to the prevailing styles in clothing, interior decoration, and industrial design, and “fashion business” for the complex network of firms making textiles, clothing, and other style goods.

7 On DuPont fibers, see Hounshell, David A. and Smith, John K. Jr., Science and Corporate Strategy: DuPont R&D, 1902–1980 (New York, 1988)Google Scholar, chs. 13,18–19; Donald F. Holmes, “The History of the Textile Fibers Department,” rev. ed., 1982, box 81, acc. 1771, papers of the Textile Fibers Department, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington [hereafter cited as TF-HML]; Hardin, Amy L., “Industry Structure and the Marketing of Synthetic Fibers,” Business and Economic History, 2nd series, 19 (1990): 213–22Google Scholar, and “Miracle Fiber to Commodity: Polyester, 1950–1975” (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1988)Google Scholar; and Smith, John K. Jr., “Innovating in Synthetic Materials: Case Studies in DuPont R&D, 1900–1940” (Ph.D. diss., University of Delaware, 1986)Google Scholar.

8 R. M. Busche to E. B. Yelton, “Development and Commercialization of New Products,” 22 July 1968, box 15, series 8, acc 2091, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Executive Committee Papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington; Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 274.

9 On competitors, see Arora, Ashish et al. , eds., Chemicals and Long-Term Economic Growth: Insights from the Chemical Industry (New York, 1998)Google Scholar; and Chandler, Alfred D. Jr., Shaping the Industrial Century: The Remarkable Story of the Evolution of the Modern Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries (Cambridge, Mass., 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 For the cultural history of synthetic fibers, see Handley, Susannah, Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution (Baltimore, 1999)Google Scholar; and O'Connor, Kaori, “The Body and the Brand: How Lycra Reshaped America,” in Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture, and Consumers, ed. Blaszczyk, Regina Lee (Philadelphia, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

11 On business and consumer society, see, for example, Peiss, Kathy Lee, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America's Beauty Culture (New York, 1998)Google Scholar; Blaszczyk, Regina Lee, Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning (Baltimore, 2000)Google Scholar; Church, Roy and Godley, Andrew, eds., The Emergence of Modern Marketing (London, 2003)Google Scholar; and Moskowitz, Marina, Standard of Living: The Measure of the Middle Class in Modern America (Baltimore, 2004)Google Scholar.

12 Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers; Blaszczyk, Regina Lee, “The Colors of Modernism,” in Seeing High and Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture, ed. Johnston, Patricia (Berkeley, 2006), 228–46Google Scholar; and “The Importance of Being True Blue: The DuPont Company and the Color Revolution,” in Cultures of Commerce: Representation and American Business Culture, 1877–1960, eds. Brown, Elspeth et al. (New York, 2006), 27–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 On the importance of fiber companies to mass-market fashion, see Ann R. Lyon, “Marketing: The Latest Thing in Fashions,” Printers' Ink, 26 Apr. 1963, republished in Inside the Fashion Business, eds. Jarnow, Jeannette A. and Judelle, Beatrice (New York, 1965), 80–84Google Scholar.

14 On the northeastern market, see Institute, Carpet, Basic Facts about the Carpet and Rug Industry (New York, 1956)Google Scholar, Joseph W. Lynch Papers, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia [hereafter cited as JWL-CHF].

15 Anna Petersen, “‘Fashions of the Times’ to End Run Today,” NYT, 3 Nov. 1950.

16 By 1963, DuPont had some 350 textile customers with offices in the New York metropolitan area. See “The Leader Can Never Stop Running,” Better Living [hereafter cited as BL] 17 (Mar.-Apr. 1963): 22Google Scholar. On New York fashion, see Milbank, Caroline Rennolds, New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style (New York, 1996)Google Scholar; Green, Nancy L., Ready-to-Wear and Ready-to-Work: A Century of Industry and Immigrants in Paris and New York (Durham, 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Agins, Teri, The End of Fashion: The Mass Marketing of the Clothing Business (New York, 1999)Google Scholar; and A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry, 1860–1960 (New York, 2005), 81–95Google Scholar.

17 For parallels, see Hine, Thomas, Populuxe (New York, 1986)Google Scholar.

18 Writing about contemporary New York fashion, geographer Norma M. Rantisi has documented innovation networks among designers, retailers, textile mills, forecasters, trade shows, and the press. See “The Local Innovation System as a Source of ‘Variety’: Openness and Adaptability in New York City's Garment District,” Regional Studies 36 (2002): 587–602CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and “The Ascendance of New York Fashion,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 28 (Mar. 2004): 86–106CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Fiber manufacturers are absent from her discussion, perhaps due to the industry's globalization that began in the mid-1960s and accelerated in the 1980s. See Landau, Ralph, “The Process of Innovation in the Chemical Industry,” in Chemicals and Long-Term Economic Growth: Insights from the Chemical Industry, eds. Arora, Ashish et al. (New York, 1998)Google Scholar; Textile Organon 37 (Jan. 1966): 22–23Google Scholar; 41 (Jan. 1970): 22-23; 52 (Nov. 1981): 202–7; Fiber Organon 61 (Sept. 1990): 208–13Google Scholar.

19 Historical Statistics of the United States, 229, 297.

20 For style and social class, see Nickels, Shelley, “More Is Better: Mass Consumption, Gender, and Class Identity in Postwar America,” American Quarterly 54 (Dec. 2002): 581–622CrossRefGoogle Scholar. As I have argued elsewhere, the meanings that consumers assign to different products vary over time. See Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers; Blaszczyk, Regina Lee, American Consumer Society, 1865–2005: What Made It Tick (Wheeling, III., forthcoming)Google Scholar.

21 Meikle, Jeffrey L., American Plastic: A Cultural History (New Brunswick, 1995)Google Scholar; Coleman, Donald C., Courtaulds: An Economic and Social History, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1969–1980)Google Scholar.

22 On household technology, see Cowan, Ruth Schwartz, More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave (New York, 1983)Google Scholar.

23 Dixson, Gertrude Brooks, “The New Synthetics—Pretty and Practical,” American Home 49 (Apr. 1953): 50–52, 110–11Google Scholar; “Wash and Wear,” Good Housekeeping 146 (May 1958): 86–101Google Scholar.

24 Institute for Motivational Research [hereafter cited as IMR], Report No. 1051, “A Motivational Research Study of the Sales and Advertising Problems of Nylon Bed Sheets,” Aug. 1957, 75, in Ernest Dichter Collection, Fachbibliothek am Institut für Publizistik-und Kommunikationswissenschaft, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria [hereafter cited as ED-UV].

25 Maldonado, Tomas and Cullars, John, “The Idea of Comfort,” Design Issues 8 (1991): 35–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lupton, Ellen and Murphy, Jane, “Case Study House: Comfort and Convenience,” Assemblage 24 (Aug. 1994): 86–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Grier, Katherine C., Culture and Comfort: Parlor-Making and Middle-Class Identity, 1850–1930 (Washington, D.C., 1997)Google Scholar.

27 Kidwell, Claudia and Christman, Margaret C., Suiting Everyone: The Democratization of Clothing in America (Washington, D.C., 1974)Google Scholar.

28 Byerly, Florence and Graves, Ben E., “What a Difference Decorating Makes,” Better Homes & Gardens 33 (Nov. 1955): 78–91Google Scholar.

29 Blaszczyk, American Consumer Society.

30 Nystrom, Paul H., The Economics of Fashion (New York, 1928), 376–81Google Scholar; Schorman, Rob, Selling Style: Clothing and Social Change at the Turn of the Century (Philadelphia, 2003)Google Scholar.

31 Milbank, New York Fashion, 100,105–9; Frank, The Conquest of Cool; Handley, Nylon.

32 May, Kirse Granat, Golden State, Golden Youth: The California Image in Popular Culture, 1955–1966 (Chapel Hill, 2002)Google Scholar; Lauria, Jo and Baizerraan, Suzanne, California Design: The Legacy of West Coast Craft and Style (San Francisco, 2005)Google Scholar.

33 Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers, chs. 3, 7; Lauria and Baizerman, California Design; Osgerby, Bill, Playboys in Paradise: Masculinity, Youth, and Leisure-Style in Modern America (New York, 2001)Google Scholar; White, Nicola, Reconstructing Italian Fashion: America and the Development of the Italian Fashion Industry (New York, 2000)Google Scholar; Scott, William C., “Dressing Down: Modernism, Leisure, and the California Men's Sportswear Industry, 1930–1960” (Ph.D. diss., University of California-Berkeley, in progress)Google Scholar.

34 On synthetic materials and malleability, see Meikle, American Plastic.

35 “Progress Report on Nylon,” AF 61 (Summer 1963): 89Google Scholar.

36 Andrew E. Buchanan Jr., “Textile Progress from Fundamental Research,” paper presented at the Textile Research Institute, New York, 2 Dec. 1949, 5, box 81, TF-HML.

37 “Ernest Dichter, 84, a Consultant on Consumer Motivation, Is Dead,” NYT, 23 Nov. 1991; Horowitz, Daniel, The Anxieties of Affluence: Critiques of American Consumer Culture, 1939–1979 (Amherst, 2004), 51–64Google Scholar.

38 On “Better Living,” see Crawford H. Greenewalt, “The Sunny Side of the Street,” speech to J. P. Stevens & Company, New York, 8 Jan. 1963, box 81, TF-HML; Marchand, Roland, Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business (Berkeley, 1998)Google Scholar; and Bird, William L. Jr., Better Living: Advertising, Media, and the New Vocabulary of Business Leadership, 1935–1955 (Evanston, III., 1999)Google Scholar.

39 Buchanan, “Textile Progress from Fundamental Research,” 3–6; Andrew E. Buchanan Jr., “The Technology of Our Business,” talk at the Educators Conference, Wilmington, 20 June 1950, 7,10–11, box 81, TF-HML.

40 Horowitz, The Anxieties of Affluence, 51–64.

41 Dichter, Ernest, “Nine Ways to Vitalize Textile Sales,” AF 43 (Summer 1958): 54Google Scholar.

42 Ibid., 55.

43 Dichter, Ernest, “The World Customer,” AF 50 (Spring 1963): 89Google Scholar; Hine, Populuxe, and Handley, Nylon, ch. 3; Ehrenreich, The Hearts of Men; Cohen, Lizabeth, A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York, 2003)Google Scholar; Frank, Conquest of Cool; Meyerowitz, Joanne, ed., Not June Cleaver: Woman and Gender in Postwar America, 1945–1960 (Philadelphia, 1994)Google Scholar; and Gilbert, James, Men in the Middle: Searching for Masculinity in the 1950s (Chicago, 2005)Google Scholar.

44 IMR, Report No. 1052, “A Motivational Research Study of the Sales and Advertising Problems of Nylon Sheets on the Retail Level,” May 1958, 51, 81, 87, ED-UV.

45 IMR, Report No. 1051.

46 Saunders, Arthur M., “Selling Becomes Marketing under the Impact of the Man-Made Fibers,” AF 57 (Summer 1962): 88–89Google Scholar.

47 Blaszczyk, “The Colors of Modernism”; Sykas, Philip A., The Secret Life of Textiles (Bolton, U.K., 2005)Google Scholar; Cherington, Paul T., The Commercial Problems of the Woolen and Worsted Industries (Washington, D.C., 1932), 123–48Google Scholar; Scranton, Philip B., Figured Tapestry: Production, Markets, and Power in Philadelphia Textiles, 1885–1941 (New York, 1989)Google Scholar.

48 Copeland, Melvin T. and Turner, W. Homer, Production and Distribution of Silk and Rayon Broad Goods (New York, 1935), 6Google Scholar.

49 Saunders, “Selling Becomes Marketing under the Impact of the Man-Made Fibers,” 88–89.

50 Ibid.

51 Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 195; Lyon, “Marketing: Latest Thing in Fashion,” 83; “Change in the Market,” BL 17 (Nov.-Dec. 1963), 14–15Google Scholar.

52 Jarnow, Jeannette A. and Judelle, Beatrice, eds., Inside the Fashion Business, 2nd ed. (New York, 1974), 88–89Google Scholar.

53 Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 13, 24–26; Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 420–21.

54 “New Baby,” BL 5 (Jan.-Feb. 1951): 1–7Google Scholar; Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 69–76; Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 394–407; “Acrilin Wins a Second Chance,” Business Week [hereafter cited as BW], 26 Jan. 1957: 53–58.

55 Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 69–76, 91; Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 394–407; press releases and photographs, “Orion Becomes a Man” promotion, Feb.-Mar. 1953, box 74, PR-HML.

56 Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 77–87,181; Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 407–20, 694; Buchanan, Andrew E. Jr., “It Ain't the Individual,” address to Commercial Chemical Development Association, New York, 28 Mar. 1957, 7Google Scholar; and talk before the American Association of Textile Technologists, New York, 28 Feb. 1951, 4–5, both in box 81, TF-HML.

57 Historical Statistics of the United States, 670–71; “The Fickle Consumer,” BL 10 (Sept.-Oct, 1956): 2–6Google Scholar; “Hot Competition in the Making,” BW, 1 Nov. 1958: 106Google Scholar.

58 Kester, Gordon. H., “Idea Fabrics,” DuPont Magazine [hereafter cited as DM] 49 (Oct Nov. 1955): 2–3Google Scholar; Sommaripa, Amory M., Diary of a Mad Russian: A Tribute to Alexis Sommaripa, 1900–1945 (New York, 2005), 8, 10–11, 13–14, 24Google Scholar.

59 “Blended Synthetics Offer Any Cloth You Want,” BW, 19 Apr. 1952: 33.

60 Herbert T. Pratt to D. M. Schlerf, “The Contribution of Customer Service in the Development of Dacron Polyester Staple and Tow,” 24 Sept. 1953, box 74, TF-HML.

61 Kester, “Idea Fabrics,” 4.

62 Ibid. By 1963, Stevens was the second largest U.S. textile manufacturer, and one of DuPont's biggest customers, purchasing $36.7 million worth of goods from the Textile Fibers Department. See M. C. Huston, “Robert T. Stevens Visit,” 30 Mar. 1964, box 28, acc. 1814, papers of Crawford H. Greenewalt, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington [hereafter cited as CG-HML].

63 “Foreign Fabrics,” DM 44 (Sept.-Oct. 1950): 31Google Scholar; press release, “Collection of 100,000 Foreign Fabrics Opened by DuPont,” 13 Apr. 1950, box 2, PR-HML; “Synthetic Fabrics Make Dress Preview,” NYT, 9 June 1954.

64 Bednar, Robert M., “Showcase of Fashion Fabrics,” DM 59 (Jan.-Feb. 1965): 16Google Scholar.

65 Ibid., 16,18.

66 A. J. Dallas to Dorothy Liebes, 20 Jan. 1955, folder: special letters, box 17; Dorothy Liebes, “My Story,” typescript, n.d., 444–46, box 4; Dorothy Liebes–T. Nash Broaddus letters, 1, 4 Feb. 1960; and Dorothy Liebes to P. D. Atwood, 18 Jan. 1961, in folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, all in Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. [hereafter cited as DL-AAA].

67 Adler, Paula, “Five Designers—Five Approaches,” Craft Horizons 24 (Mar. 1964): 43–47Google Scholar; Znamierowski, Nell, Dorothy Liebes: Retrospective Exhibition Sponsored by the Textile Fibers Department, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; Dorothy Liebes to Arthur Wingate, 17 Nov. 1962, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, and Dorothy Liebes interview, typescript, 16 Oct. 1945, 8, folder: special letters, box 17, DL-AAA

68 Dorothy Liebes to L. R. Blackhurst, 15 Aug. 1962, folder: DuPont, 1962, box 1, DL-AAA.

69 A. H. Freeman, “The Market for Bedspreads,” MR-53-9, 8 Dec. 1953, box 78, TF-HML.

70 Carpet Institute, Basic Facts about the Carpet and Rug Industry, 10–11.

71 Liebes to Blackhurst, 27 May 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.

72 Harry Palfreeman, “Fibres and Carpets,” Canadian Textile Journal (28 Nov. 1958): 71.

73 Liebes to Blackhurst, 28 June 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.

74 Holmes, “The History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 14, 26, 35–38; Don W. Gay, “Concept Marketing,” 15 Dec. 1976, 12, JWL-CHF; L. R. Blackhurst Jr. to R. W. Jones, 25 March 1964, folder: March–April 1964, and Dorothy Liebes to Everett Brown, 28 July 1964, folder: July–Aug. 1964, both in box 7, DL-AAA.

75 L. R. Blackhurst to P. R. Price, “Membership Luncheon,” 15 Dec. 1960, folder: DuPont, 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.

76 Liebes to Blackhurst, 15 Aug. 1962; Dorothy Liebes Design to L. R. Blackhurst et al., “Activities Report, July 1962,” folder: DuPont 1962, and Judith Mortenson to Mary McLoud, 12 Aug. 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, both in box 1, DL-AAA.

77 Petty, Charles E., “New Media for Art Underfoot,” DM 59 (Nov.-Dec. 1965): 16–19Google Scholar.

78 W. A. Hooper to Dorothy Liebes, 18 Jan., 12 May 1960; W. A. Hooper to Ralph Higbee, 7 Sept. 1960; Dorothy Liebes to Arthur Wingate, 27 Jan., 2 Feb., 26 Nov. 1962, all in folder: DuPont, 1960, box 1, DL-AAA; “Theta at the N.Y. Fair,” Kappa Alpha Theta Magazine 79 (Summer 1965): 4–5Google Scholar; press release, “Dorothy Liebes' Glamour Curtains for DuPont Building at the Fair,” 23 Mar. 1964, folder: March–April 1964, box 7, DL-AAA.

79 Dorothy Liebes to L. R. Blackhurst, 22 Oct. 1964, folder: Oct. 1964, box 7, DL-AAA.

80 Dorothy Liebes to Al Freeman, 23 Apr. 1962, folder: DuPont, 1962, box 1, DL-AAA.

81 Dorothy Liebes to C. B. Tyson, 25 Jan. 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.

82 G. D. Hobbs, “The Dress Industry,” Textile Fibers Department [1952], box 78, TF-HML.

83 “Weaving New Fabrics,” NYT, 28 Sept. 1951; “Fashion Show at Opera,” NYT, 30 Oct. 1954. The fiber industries had been sponsoring fashion shows to promote cotton and rayon since the early twentieth century. Conversation with Dilys E. Blum, curator of Costume and Textiles, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1 Aug. 2006.

84 On Paris, see Banner, Lois W., American Beauty (Chicago, 1983)Google Scholar; Steele, Valerie, Paris Fashion: A Cultural History (New York, 1988)Google Scholar; Crane, Diana, Fashion and Its Social Agendas (Chicago, 2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Palmer, Alexandra, Couture and Commerce: The Transatlantic Fashion Trade in the 1950s (Vancouver, 2001)Google Scholar; and Blum, Dilys E., Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli (Philadelphia, 2003)Google Scholar.

85 Herbert Brean, “High Style Cash and Carry,” Life, 26 Jan. 1953, reprinted in Inside the Fashion Business, eds. Jarnow and Judelle, 151–56; “C'est Si Bon, U.S. Buyers Say of Paris,” NYT, 12 Feb. 1958.

86 For DuPont's 1930s experience with designers, see Madame Margé Collection, Special Collections Department, Gladys Marcus Library, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

87 L. Mehrmann to E. B. Winn, “Introduction of Qiana through the Parisian Couture,” 8 Aug. 1968, and Lyn Stevenson to Helen Gray, “Fall Paris Collections—July 1968,” 9 Jan. 1968, both in box 18, PR-HML.

88 On DuPont and French fashion, see Blaszczyk, Regina Lee, “DuPont et la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne,” in La Mode des Sixties, eds. Ruffat, Michèle and Veillon, Dominique (Paris, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

89 Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 19, [23f], [23g].

90 Martin, Richard, ed., The St. James Fashion Encyclopedia (New York, 1997), 152–54Google Scholar; Liaut, Jean-Noël, Hubert de Givenchy: Entre Vies et Légendes (Paris, 2000)Google Scholar.

91 Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 13.

92 Press releases, “American Man-Made Fiber Featured in Givenchy's Collection,” 5 Feb. 1954, and “New Givenchy Collection Features Surah with Orion,” 18 Feb. 1954, box 2, PR-HML.

93 Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 14; photographs of Chanel designs, Mar. 1954, box 74, PR-HML.

94 “Parisians Pour Plaudits on Synthetics,” Chemical Week 74 (26 June 1954): 24Google Scholar; “Synthetic Fabrics Used by Parisians,” NYT, 12 July 1954.

95 Photographs and captions of Givenchy's Orion sweaters, Jan.-Feb.1955, box 71; press releases, “Orion Stars in Paris in Special Givenchy Collection,” 5 Feb. 1955, and “First Fashion Show in United States of Paris-Designed Costumes in Orion,” 17 Mar. 1955, box 4; “Paris-Designed Costumes Containing Orion Acrylic Fiber,” fashion show by the DuPont Company, Hotel Plaza, New York, 17 Mar. 1955, box 4, all in PR-HML. Palmer [Couture and Commerce, 183–94] describes strategies developed by 1950s couturiers to benefit from the mass market, including licensing, boutique lines, and ready-to-wear. Givenchy's Orion sweaters, shown in the weeks after his regular collection, may have fit one of these models.

96 Photograph of Balmain's Nymphea gown, 29 Feb. 1956, box 71; press releases, “Use of Nylon at Dior Expected to Influence American Fashions,” 25 Feb. 1958, box 2, and “Paris Shows Spectacular Late-Day Fashions in Fabrics Containing Man-Made Fibers,” 12 Aug. 1958, box 2; photographs of Paris collections, 26 Aug. 1958, box 69, all in PR-HML.

97 Gay, “Concept Marketing,” 14–15.

98 Photographs showing displays of multifibers in Paris fashions, Mar. 1958, box 69, PR-HML.

99 “Keeping the Accounts,” BL 11 (Nov.-Dec. 1957): 1Google Scholar.

100 Photographs, “Orion in Paris” fashion show, Sept. 1955, box 71; “Paris Couture Costumes with Orion Acrylic Fiber,” 21 Sept. 1955, box 4; script for Paris fashion show, 21 Sept. 1955. box 4, all in PR-HML. The disposition of DuPont's couture models is unknown. Generally, models imported as design sources were shipped out of the U.S. within six months in order to avoid paying customs duties, but this may not have been an issue for DuPont. See “C'est Si Bon,” and Palmer, Couture and Commerce, 135–47.

101 Eleanor Parrish to Crawford H. Greenewalt, 26 Aug. 1957; Andrew E. Buchanan Jr. to Greenewalt, 13 Sept. 1957, both in box 27, CG-HML.

102 For French designs and American copies, see materials for the “Paris in America” promotion, Mar. 1959, box 64, PR-HML. In some instances, couturiers created models using DuPont fibers, but prohibited reproduction; see folder: “Sample of Orion and Other Fibers Combinations,” 1961, box 18, PR-HML. American firms importing Dior originals to make spin-offs that retailed for less than $100 were forbidden to use the couture house's name to market them. Dior sanctioned the use of the pseudonym “Monsieur X” for these moderately priced copies. See Gloria Emerson, “What's in a Name?,” NYT, 16 Sept. 1960; and Palmer, Couture and Commerce, 174–75.

103 William M. Freeman, “News of the Advertising and Marketing Fields,” NYT, 4 Nov. 1956; “Hot Competition in the Making"; “Beating the Drums for a New Fiber,” BW (12 Nov. 1960): 134–38; Louis F. Laun, “Forward Looking Marketing Techniques at the Fiber, Mill, and Manufacturing Levels,” speech given at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, 17 Nov. 1969, in Inside the Fashion Business, 2nd ed., eds. Jarnow and Judelle, 90–94.

104 Press releases, “Givenchy Sweater Collection Launches New Orion Filament Yarn,” 26 Jan. 1959, and “Givenchy Sweater Collection Presented to Press by DuPont,” 17 Feb. 1959, both in box 1, PR-HML.

105 Charles H. Rutledge to Mrs. A. T. Lubin, 12 Feb. 1957, box 27, CG-HML.

106 “Hot Competition in the Making”; “Too Many Fibers Spoil the Miracle,” BW (29 Oct. 1966): 165–70.

107 Textile Organon 52 (Oct. 1981): 176Google Scholar; Gee, “Textile Fibers Department”; Holmes, “History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 91, 95.

108 DuPont Fiber Facts (Wilmington [ca. 1965])Google Scholar; Rutledge to Lubin; DuPont's Biggest Customer,” BL (May-June 1967): 1–7.

109 Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 419; photos 416–25 and 416–35: “Orion Becomes a Man,” 24 Feb. 1953, box 74, PR-HML.

110 Roswell Magill to Crawford Greenewalt, 20 Oct. 1959, box 27, CG-HML.

111 “Blended Synthetics Offer Any Cloth You Want,” 32–34; “Wardrobe Revolution,” BL 14 (Nov.-Dec. 1960): 16–18Google Scholar; Milestones in the DuPont Company's Textile Fibers History, 13th ed. (Wilmington, 1980), 5Google Scholar.

112 On Ward, see Textile Distributors Institute, Men's Wear Fabric Styling Clinic Work Kit, 24 Feb. 1955, Special Collections, Paul J. Gutman Library, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia; Holmes, “A History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 98, 102, 110.

113 Untitled press release, 8 Apr. 1959, box 1, PR-HML.

114 “Wardrobe Revolution,” 12–15.

115 “The Sweater Girl,” BL 13 (Jan.-Feb. 1959): 12–15Google Scholar.

116 Press release on sweaters, untitled, 2 Oct. 1959, box 4, PR-HML.

117 “The Leader Can Never Stop Running,” 21.

118 “DuPont Sees Rise in Textile Needs,” NYT, 15 Sept. 1959.

119 Gomer H. Ward, “Where the Action Is,” 5–6, speech to the Textile Salesmen's Association, New York, 13 Apr. 1967, box 83, TF-HML.

120 Weiss, E. B. and Weiss, Richard E., 1010 Tested Ideas that Move Merchandise (New York, 1962)Google Scholar; and Weiss, E. B., Management and the Marketing Revolution: Merchandising Strategies for the New Era (New York, 1964)Google Scholar.

121 Weiss, E. B., “The New American Consumer,” AF 62 (Fall-Winter 1963): 43–44Google Scholar.

122 “Fabrics on the Move,” DM 56 (July-Aug. 1962): 20–22Google Scholar.

123 “Dealers Cautioned on Apparel Trends,” NYT, 21 Oct. 1966.

124 Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers, chs. 3–4.

125 “From Miami to Mount Tremblant,” DM 57 (Mar.-Apr. 1963): 23–25Google Scholar.

126 See “Where Did Stretch Fabrics Begin?” AF 63 (Winter-Spring 1964): iv–vGoogle Scholar.

127 Steele, Valerie, Fashion, Italian Style (New Haven, 2003), 25–27Google Scholar; Heine, Emily, “New Fabrics Are Shaping Sportswear,” DM 55 (Sept.-Oct. 1961): 4Google Scholar.

128 Press release on Lycra, 28 Oct. 1959, box 80, PR-HML; Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 431.

129 Press release, “Lycra Spandex Fiber” [1959–60], box 29, PR-HML; “Lycra: Sheer Strength in an Elastic Fiber,” DM 56 (May–June 1962): 8–9Google Scholar.

130 J. T. Phillips Jr. et al., “The Women's Apparel Industry,” report by the Corporate Research Division, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, N.Y., 19 Apr. 1967, 1–6, 9–10, box 28, CG-HML; “Cossard's Color Live-in Keeps America Beautiful,” Corset, Bra, and Lingerie Magazine 145 (Mar. 1968)Google Scholar: cover.

131 On intimate apparel and feminine identity, see Steele, Valerie, Fashion and Eroticism: Ideals of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age (New York, 1985)Google Scholar.

132 Mrs. Arthur E. Bobert, Janesville, Wis., to DuPont Show of the Week, New York, 16 Dec. 1962, box 79, TF-HML.

133 W. H. Ayers, “The Shirt Industry,” MR-52-2,11 July 1952, box 78, TF-HML.

134 Ibid.

135 Press release, “Flexible Spring Fashions Have New Built-in Action,” 3 Feb. 1964, box 14, PR-HML.

136 Photographs for suit by Palm Beach and casual wear by Esquire and Amho, 3 Feb. 1964, box 14, PR-HML.

137 White, Reconstructing Italian Fashion; Breward, Christopher, Fashioning London: Clothing and the Modern Metropolis (New York, 2004)Google Scholar.

138 “A Tale of Gods and Fashion” (Wilmington, 1962)Google Scholar, Archives Center, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., cited by Scott in “Dressing Down.”

139 Nora Ephron, “The Man in the Bill Blass Suit,” NYT, 8 Dec. 1968.

140 “Fall 1964 Resource List—Men's and Boy's Wear Containing Lycra Spandex Fiber” [1964], box 73, PR-HML.

141 Clement A. Norton to DuPont Company, 13 Nov. 1963, box 79, TF-HML.

142 “New Stretch for Men's Clothing,” BW (25 Jan. 1964): 86–87.

143 Martin, St. James Fashion Encyclopedia, 405–7; press release, “Teen Girls See What's Right—as Well as Wrong—in Fashions Just for Them,” 12 Feb. 1963, box 74, PR-HML; “Visitors to Fair Will Be Greeted by a World of Fashion,” NYT, 17 Apr. 1965.

144 “Yoga Inspires Maker of Casual Styles,” NYT, 2 May 1964.

145 Press release, “World's Fair Guides’ Uniforms Showcase Fibers by DuPont,” 6 May 1964, and photograph RS-WFDP: “World's Fair Hostess Uniform,” both in box 17, PR-HML.

146 Press release, “DuPont Offers Retailers Stretch Corps 1965,” 3 Aug. 1964, box 17; Stretch Your Sales… Comfortably… (Wilmington, [1964])Google Scholar, box 73, both in PR-HML.

147 “13 Women Triumphing Vicariously,” NYT, 5 Feb. 1995; Ackmann, Martha, The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and Their Dream of Space Flight (New York, 2003)Google Scholar; Nolen, Stephanie, Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race (New York, 2003)Google Scholar.

148 “Biography of Mrs. Geraldine Sloan,” 1964, and untitled press release on John Weitz's wardrobe for Sloan, July 1964, both in box 17, PR-HML.

149 Ibid.

150 Ward, “Where the Action Is,” 4; Ernest Dichter, “The Peacock Revolution: The Psychology of the Young Men's Market,” speech delivered at Scottsdale, Ariz., 18 Feb. 1966.

151 Holmes, “The History of the Textile Fibers Department,” 93; Brown, Alfred E. and Reinhart, Kenneth A., “Polyester Fiber: From Its Invention to Its Present Position,” Science 173 (23 July 1971): 287CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Textile Organon 52 (Oct. 1981): 176Google Scholar.

152 Gee, “Textile Fibers Department.”

153 Schulman, Bruce J., The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (New York, 2001)Google Scholar; Jones, Geoffrey, Multinationals and Global Capitalism: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century (New York, 2005)Google Scholar.

154 Hardin, “Miracle Fiber to Commodity”; Schneider, Jane, “In and Out of Polyester: Desire, Disdain and Global Fibre Competitions,” Anthropology Today 10 (Aug. 1994): 2–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

155 Handley, Nylon.

156 Sears Apparel and Decorator Fashion Fabrics, Fall and Winter 1974 (Chicago, 1974)Google Scholar, author's possession.

157 Textile Organon 52 (Oct. 1981): 176Google Scholar; 52 (Nov. 1981): 185–199; Fiber Organon 61 (Sept. 1990): 201–16Google Scholar; Ann Marie Murphy to DuPont Company, 3 Apr. 1976, box 79, TF-HML.

158 Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 328, 504, 538; This Is DuPont: Man-Made Fibers (Wilmington, 1951), 1Google Scholar.

159 Arnold, Pauline and White, Percival, Clothes and Cloth: America's Apparel Business (New York, 1961), 160Google Scholar.

160 “Dupont's Fashion Show Is Designed to Sell Fibers,” NYT, 24 Jan. 1971.

161 James J. Hackett, “The Outlook for Man-Made Fibers and Yarns in Textile Products,” typescript of an article for Journal of Commerce, 16 June 1964, box 28, CG-HML.

162 “Stretch and the American Concept of Comfort in Fashion,” iii.