DuPont designed nylon to replace silk.
Nylon stockings went on sale nationwide on May 15, 1940, and nearly 800,000 pairs sold the first day. Nylon was a synthetic substitute for Japanese silk, which the war soon cut off. In World War II, it went to parachutes, tents, and rope. Women rioted over scarce stockings into 1946.
DuPont on Brandseum