InventorsThe
History of FabricsArtificial Silk
- see rayonBlue
Jeans & Denim Fabric Levi Strauss invented the fabric
called denim, and blue jeans.
FoxFibre
® Sally Fox re-invented the naturally
colored cotton used in cotton fabrics.
GORE-TEX® GORE-TEX® is a registered trademark
and the best-known product of W. L. Gore
& Associates, Inc. The trademarked product was introduced in 1989.
The fabric, based on a Gore-held patent for a membrane technology, is specifically
engineered to be a breathable water and wind-proof material. The phrase
"Guaranteed to Keep you Dry®" is also a Gore-owned registered trademark,
part of the GORE-TEX® warranty.
Wilbert L. and Genevieve Gore founded
the company on January 1, 1958, in Newark, Delaware. The Gores set out
to explore opportunities for fluorocarbon polymers, especially polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE). The current
CEO is their son Bob. Wilbert Gore was posthumously inducted into The Plastics
Hall of Fame in 1990.
Kevlar Stephanie Louise Kwolek invented
a material five times stronger than steel.
Waterproof
Fabric - Mackintosh Raincoat Charles Macintoshwas a Scottish
chemist who invented (1823) a method for making waterproof garments. Macintosh
discovered that coal-tar naphtha dissolved india rubber. He took wool cloth
and painted one side with the dissolved rubber preparation and placed another
layer of wool cloth on top. The mackintosh raincoat created from the new
fabric was named after Charles Macintosh.
Polyester Whinfield and Dickson along with
inventors W.K. Birtwhistle and C.G. Ritchiethey also created the first
polyester fiber called Terylene in 1941.
Rayon Rayon was the first manufactured
fiber developed, it made from wood or cotton
pulp and was first known as artificial silk. The Swiss chemist, Georges
Audemars invented the first crude artificial silk around 1855, by dipping a
needle into liquid mulberry bark pulp and gummy rubber to make threads. The
method was too slow to be practical.
In 1884, a French chemist, Hilaire de Charbonnet,
Comte de Chardonnay, patented an artificial silk that was a cellulose-based
fabric known as Chardonnay silk." Pretty but very flammable, it was removed
from the market.
In 1894, British inventors, Charles Cross,
Edward Bevan, and Clayton Beadle, patented a safe a practical method of making
artificial silk that came to be known as viscose rayon. Avtex Fibers Incorporated first commercially produced artificial
silk or rayon in 1910 in the United States. The term "rayon" was first
used in 1924.
Nylon
And Neoprene A brilliant and tragic mind, Carothers
was the brains behind Dupont and the birth of synthetic fibers.
Spandex In 1942, William Hanford and Donald
Holmes invented polyurethane together.
Polyurethane
is the basis of a novel type of elastomeric fiber known generically as
spandex. It is a man-made fiber (segmented polyurethane) able to stretch
at least 100% and snap back like natural rubber. It replaced the rubber
used in women's underwear. Spandex was created in the late 1950s, developed
by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. The first commercial production
of spandex fiber in the United States began in 1959.
VELCRO® Mother Nature could not have made
a better fabric herself.
Vinyl Waldo L. Semon invented a way to
make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) useful. He created vinyl.
Ultrasuede In 1970, Toray Industries scientist
Dr. Miyoshi Okamoto invented the world's first microfiber. A few months
later, his colleague Dr. Toyohiko Hikota succeeded in developing a process
that would transform these microfibers into an amazing new fabric - Ultrasuede.
The
History of Microfibers The first microfibers were developed
in Japan over 20 years ago. One of the best-known of the early microfibers
is Ultrasuede.
Fabric
History This is a history of the principal
natural and artificial fibers used in textiles for apparel and home use.
Whole
Cloth The history of textiles - large
website full of essays and activities on early industrialization, colors
and synthetic fabrics.
Textile
Industry and Textile Machinery
Timeline of the textile machinery developed during
the Industrial revolution.
The
History of Carpets Countless innovations in fabric
technology came about during the history of carpets.
Clothing
Innovations Making
Textiles and Fabrics The
History of Weaving Fabrics Weaving
Links Fabric
Information and Fabric Facts A
Short History of Manufactured Fibers Fiber
Facts
