Enter Dacron

U.S. retailers, who had watched nylon work a revolution in the hosiery market, were in the midst of another Du Pont revolution last week. On sale were men's shirts and women's blouses of Dacron, a synthetic which may do the same thing to wool that nylon did to silk. In the next few weeks, men's suits of Dacron will be sold all over the country.

Manhattan's Witty Bros. announced it will make 100% Dacron summer-weight suits to sell for $95 in about 60 stores all over the U.S., including San Francisco's Roos Bros., Boston's Kennedy's, Kansas City's Palace Clothing Co. Suits made from Dacron are lighter and cooler than summer-weight wool, will not wrinkle, stretch or fade; the crease in the trousers can only be removed with a hot iron. Last summer, Witty made experimental suits for 200 test customers. One man accidentally tumbled out of a canoe while wearing his Dacron suit; after hanging the suit up to dry for a few hours, he took it down wrinkle-free and still sharply creased. Another cleaned his by tossing it into a washing machine; it came out in perfect condition. (Actually, the suits should be dry-cleaned to prevent the lining from wrinkling, though most ordinary spots can be washed off with soap & water.) Suitmaker Hart Schaffner & Marx is also using Dacron in 3,500 summer-weight suits to go on sale in 75 stores for $79.50. These suits are a blend of 55% Dacron and 45% wool. Hart Schaffner & Marx says it added the wool because all Dacron builds up a charge of static electricity during dry weather, clings to the skin. Du Pont has been working on this, has made a lot of progress in solving it.

Du Pont's Delaware plant makes Dacron on a pilot plant scale, can supply Witty with fiber for only 1,600 suits this year. Big-scale deliveries of Dacron must wait until 1953, when Du Pont finishes its new plant at Kinston, N.C.

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