Editing Nylon (section)

=== Early marketing strategies ===

An important part of nylon's popularity stems from DuPont's marketing strategy. DuPont promoted the fibre to increase demand before the product was available to the general market. Nylon's commercial announcement occurred on October 27, 1938, at the final session of the ''[[New York Herald Tribune|Herald Tribune]]''{{'}}s yearly "Forum on Current Problems", on the site of the approaching New York City world's fair.<ref name="Kativa">{{cite journal|last1=Kativa|first1=Hillary|title=Synthetic Threads|journal=Distillations|date=2016|volume=2|issue=3|pages=16–21|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/synthetic-threads|access-date=20 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Meikle" />{{rp|141}} The "first man-made organic textile fibre" which was derived from "coal, water and air" and promised to be "as strong as steel, as fine as the spider's web" was received enthusiastically by the audience, many of them middle-class women, and made the headlines of most newspapers.<ref name="Meikle" />{{rp|141}} Nylon was introduced as part of "The world of tomorrow" at the 1939 New York World's Fair<ref name="Blakinger">{{cite news|last1=Blakinger|first1=Keri |title=A look back at some of the coolest attractions at the 1939 World's Fair|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/back-attractions-1939-world-fair-article-1.2619155|access-date=20 June 2017|work=New York Daily News|date=April 30, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170912053601/http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/back-attractions-1939-world-fair-article-1.2619155 |archive-date= Sep 12, 2017 }}</ref> and was featured at DuPont's "Wonder World of Chemistry" at the [[Golden Gate International Exposition]] in San Francisco in 1939.<ref name="Kativa"/><ref name="Sundberg">{{cite book|last1=Sundberg|first1=Richard J.|title=The Chemical Century: Molecular Manipulation and Its Impact on the 20th Century|date=2017|publisher=Apple Academic Press, Incorporated|isbn=9781771883665|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9eRDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT216}}</ref> Actual [[Fully fashioned stockings|nylon stockings]] were not shipped to selected stores in the national market until May 15, 1940. However, a limited number were released for sale in Delaware before that.<ref name="Meikle" />{{rp|145–146}} The first public sale of nylon stockings occurred on October 24, 1939, in Wilmington, Delaware. 4,000 pairs of stockings were available, all of which were sold within three hours.<ref name="Kativa"/>

Another added bonus to the campaign was that it meant reducing silk imports from Japan, an argument that won over many wary customers. Nylon was even mentioned by [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]]'s cabinet, which addressed its "vast and interesting economic possibilities" five days after the material was formally announced.<ref name="Meikle" />

However, the early excitement over nylon also caused problems. It fueled unreasonable expectations that nylon would be better than silk, a miracle fabric as strong as steel that would last forever and never run.<ref name="Meikle" />{{rp|145–147}}<ref name="Wolfe2008"/> Realizing the danger of claims such as "New Hosiery Held Strong as Steel" and "No More Runs", DuPont scaled back the terms of the original announcement, especially those stating that nylon would possess the strength of steel.<ref name="Meikle" />

Also, DuPont executives marketing nylon as a revolutionary man-made material did not at first realise that some consumers experienced a sense of unease and distrust, even fear, towards synthetic fabrics.<ref name="Meikle" />{{rp|126–128}} A particularly damaging news story, drawing on DuPont's 1938 patent for the new polymer, suggested that one method of producing nylon might be to use [[cadaverine]] (pentamethylenediamine),{{efn|Actually the most common nylon polymers are made from hexamethylenediamine, with one more CH<sub>2</sub> group than cadaverine.}} a chemical extracted from corpses. Although scientists asserted that cadaverine was also extracted by heating coal, the public often refused to listen. A woman confronted one of the lead scientists at DuPont and refused to accept that the rumour was not true.<ref name="Meikle" />{{rp|146–147}}

DuPont changed its campaign strategy, emphasizing that nylon was made from "coal, air and water", and started focusing on the personal and aesthetic aspects of nylon, rather than its intrinsic qualities.<ref name="Meikle" />{{rp|146–147}} Nylon was thus domesticated,<ref name="Meikle"/>{{rp|151–152}} and attention shifted to the material and consumer aspect of the fibre with slogans like "If it's nylon, it's prettier, and oh! How fast it dries!".<ref name="Ndiaye" />{{rp|2}}