Show Is silk stocking era passing new hose will soon tell ASHINGTON about W vy may 15 several million american women will begin testing a product on whose success or failure hinges the future of japans a year silk trade with the united states stockings made of various natural and synthetic substances will go on the market then designed to replace the unglamorous silk worm whose glamorous product has sheathed shapely american legs for many years there will be stockings made of coal air and water a product trademarked trade marked nylon others are made from rubber some from resin and still others M 4 X r 4 4 ale SPEAKING OF HIGH STAND ARDS miss virginia phelan secretary of the national research association shown at the bureau of standards wearing a pair 0 of f hose which were to be tested on the new snag resistance tester the machine has a sharp point for snagging the stockings snag resistance is 1 J from cotton camouflaged so skillfully that it look like cotton it if these substitutes are successful the a year american silk stocking industry will be reshaped overnight can it replace silk silka 2 women are watching the experiment with mingled caution and interest because no stocking material has yet been devised that will flatter their legs like silk in 1938 it accounted for 88 per cent of all stockings sold it has been at once the most luxurious and pestiferous item on miladys budget for silks cobwebby texture will snag and run at the touch of a rough fingernail nylon most publicized of the new products was perfected in dupont laboratories and is now being tested under actual wearing conditions sheerer than silk in many ways nylon resembles silk overcoming some of its faults yet presenting a few new ones which silk have nylon stockings can be knit even sheerer than silk and dont snag so easily but once they do the run develops more quickly they wont spot when splashed d by rain or snow because water resistant but by the same token not so comfortable for table as silk feeling a bit metallic and cold to the skin since they absorb only 3 per cent of perspiration they may also feel a bit clammy in hot weather so confident are its sponsors of nylons success that factories costing are now being built about pounds of the stuff will be processed this year another synthetic stocking is that made of resin dust mixed with salt natural gas coal and oil the chemists who produced it expect to turn out pounds a year tor for rope fish nets sails and hose rubber hose a novelty rubber stockings now on the market are knit in lacy meshes and have attracted attention as a novelty because they stretch to fit the leg snugly from the american farmers standpoint the most important hosiery development concerns cotton which the government is trying to convert into a beautiful and popular stocking material directed by david H young veteran hosiery designer weavers have perfected 50 or more ranging herringbone to stripes for the past year these hose have undergone strenuous tests on the legs of 68 nurses in the garfield hospital at washington each night they have been sent back to the home economics bureau of the department part ment of agriculture where miss ruth obrien director of textiles has had them washed tested for wear and prepared tor for another days use |