In the late 1920s a young American chemist, Wallace Carothers, set about trying to create polymers which could be used as fibres. He based his research on the structure of wool and silk, which are proteins but can also be regarded as natural polymers. The result was a family of polymers known as nylons

It was the late thirties before the first items made from nylon started to appear; consequently, the first major commercial use of nylon was in parachute material and it was not until after the Second World War that products such as nylon stockings became widely available.