Nylon Stocking Day is observed across the country each year on May 15. The stocking has come to represent a large number of different concepts, from femininity to sexuality.
Chemical company DuPont’s introduction of nylon in 1939 began a high demand for stockings in the United States. As nylon stockings were inexpensive, durable and shear, up to 4 million pairs would be purchased each day.
On February 11, 1942, as America entered World War II, DuPont ceased production of nylon stockings and switching their focus to the manufacture of parachutes, airplane cords and rope. This created a mass shortage followed by a black market for stockings. At the end of World War II, DuPont resumed production of the stockings but could not meet the demand leading to nylon riots in American stores. In time, DuPont was able to increase its output.
Stockings worn before the 1890s were made of woven cloth such as cotton, linen, wool or silk. Before the 1920s, women’s stockings were worn for warmth. As hemlines of women’s dresses rose in the 1920s, women began to wear stockings over their exposed legs. These 1920s stockings were sheer, made first of silk or rayon, followed by nylon after 1940.
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