What goes around, comes around - and that's
never been truer than in the world of high fashion. Stockings may be the
hottest garment for the new millennium, but did you know that they
actually date back over 400 years?
The story begins in 1589. That was when the English churchman Reverend
William Lee invented the world's first knitting machine and started to
make hosiery out of cotton, wool and silk. The machine was a national
treasure. In fact, the queen of the day threatened the death penalty for
anyone who attempted to export it. It's a shame this threat couldn't have
been extended for the person who invented tights!
The technology remained reasonably static right until the 1930s, when a
new circular knitting machine meant garments could be made in one piece,
and no longer needed to be sewn together. Elsewhere in that decade,
scientists at the Du Pont company in Delaware, USA started experiments in
molecular chemistry that would quite literally change the world.
Julian Hill was one of the scientists in a group led by the brilliant
but manic-depressive Wallace Carothers. Hill was looking for a silk
substitute, and one day he discovered that by pulling a heated rod from a
mixture of coal tar, water and alcohol he could create a filament that was
strong, sheer, and silk-like in appearance. Further research led to the
first synthetic fibre, which soon came to be known as Polymer 6.6. Two
years later, in 1937, Du Pont patented the discovery, but the year was
sadly just as memorable for Wallace Carothers' untimely death. Fatally
depressed, he committed suicide shortly after his wife informed him that
she was pregnant. As a tribute to his work, Du Pont decided that he -
rather than Hill - should be hailed as the inventor of Polymer 6.6, and so
a legend was born.
Synthetic fibres were first shown by the company to the public at the
World's Fair in New York in 1939. Taking the NY from the city's initials,
the fibre became known as "nylon". (Just as well, then, that it
wasn't in San Francisco, as I doubt sflon would have caught on quite as
well!)
Nylon was a revelation. The first nylon stockings appeared in New York
stores on May 15, 1940. Over 72,000 pairs were sold in the first day
alone, and the Japanese silk market collapsed almost overnight. Department
stores throughout America saw a similar stampede. In the first year, 64
million pairs of stockings were sold and manufacturers could not keep up
with demand.
When the US joined the Second World War in 1942, most nylon production
was switched into tent and parachute manufacturing for the military
forces. American GIs could still get hold of stockings, though, and they
became the gift of seduction as the GIs tried to woo their way into the
hearts of British women.
After the war, demand rocketed. The first post-war hosiery sale took
place in 1945 in Market Street, San Francisco, and attracted 10,000
shoppers. Throughout the '40s and '50s, stockings were known as
"fully-fashioned" rather than the single size of most hosiery
today. Fully-fashioned stockings were tailored to the shape of the leg,
and had a distinctive seam at the back. When women could not afford
stockings, or had difficulty getting hold of them, they would often draw a
vertical line up the back of their legs to simulate the effect.
Tragically, hosiery entered the dark ages in the 1960s when some
misguided soul saw fit to invent tights. Unaware of the health problems we
now know tights cause, the unknowing inventors marketed them as a
convenient alternative to stockings and the traditional suspender belt.
And although tights became the dominant product in the hosiery market for
the next 30 years, stockings are now returning to the prominence they
enjoyed in the golden era of days gone by.
Fully-fashioned stockings - the definition of elegance?
In the 1940s and 1950s nylon stockings were fully-fashioned, as opposed
to most modern stockings, which are 'one-size'. Fully fashioned stockings
were tailored to the shape of the leg, and were seamed up the back. The seam
was an essential part of the stocking's construction, as it held it
together. This is unlike modern so-called 'seamed' stockings, which are
woven into a tube shape and which have a purely decorative 'seam'. Fully
fashioned stockings were made from silky non-stretch, gossamer nylon fabric
(so they couldn't be 'one-size'). In other words, take the seam out of a
fully-fashioned stocking and it will be un-wearable but a modern stocking
could still be worn.
Fully fashioned nylons are knitted on mills. They are still
manufactured today by a small number of companies, who tend to use either
genuine, 1950s machinery, or replicas of it. Stocking mills are huge
machines - some are up to 60 feet long and 12 tons in weight. With 16,000
needles per machine they need constant attention and take one hour to
produce only 30 legs. After manufacture each stocking is seamed, one at a
time. Once the stocking has been knitted, the seam is added, giving the
stocking its classic shape and fit. The 'finishing loop' at the top back
of the stocking is also a result of the finishing process, and is created
because the seaming machinist has to finish the seam by turning the
stocking top (called 'the welt') in a circle. The finishing loop
identifies a true fully-fashioned nylon.
Stockings are usually manufactured white, then dyed different colors.
After this, they're 'boarded' where each stocking is pulled over a flat
wooden or metal leg and steamed. This tightens the knit, defines the leg
shape and removes creases. Then each stocking is checked for size to ensure
pairs match. Quality control for faults can mean 40% of production can be
lost. Often, the old machinery can only churn out 15 pairs of stockings per
hour, so it's obviously not a cost effective way of manufacturing. This
means that fully fashioned stockings are now a rarity, although thankfully
you can still buy them!
