Any one live near Wilmington Delaware

[Paul]

Why I am asking is that I would like to find out a department store name

In a department store in Wilmington Delaware the first ever nylon stocking went on sale the date was after 27 October 1938
and before May 15 1940 this was a product trial by Du Point to see if they would sell , this was prior to the May 15 launch in New York, Wilmington was chosen because it was where Du Point had their laboratories.
it only took a few hour for all stock to sell out from the store
I am speculating here, but it could have been Kennard’s Department Store, 617-623 Market Street ?and some time in 1939 or early 1940.
Can any one give me the date and store name I woulde very much appreciated this.
Thank You Paul

 

[Viviene]

Paul,

I'm not in Delaware but in googling I found this link about Kennard's display window from the 1950s showcasing stockings made from DuPont's nylon. I'll keep looking to see if I can turn anything else up.

http://www.hsd.org/Fabulous50s/pic_43_full.htm

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Now I'm intrigued.

I live near Wilmington, DE and I've never heard of this, but I do know that the old DuPont factories are still around the area! Now I'm going to investigate...

I'll let you know what I find (if anything.)

 

[Viviene]

Paul,

This is the website for the Historical Society of Delaware. You can email them directly as there is a link on this page I'm giving you the address for. They might be able to contact DuPont for you to find out if they previewed the stockings at Kennards.

http://www.hsd.org/index.html

When I was looking at their website they also show that they had I believe back in 2002 an entire display on all the different products that DuPont had rolled out. I'm sure they'll be able to answer your question or direct you to someone who can.

 

[Viviene]

Paul,

I just found the DuPont website and here is a link for the DuPont Heritage. It has an entire timeline here going over their different products and nylon of course is one of them. They don't tell where they did their test run of the nylons but if the historical society can't help you then I bet someone right at DuPont can. Here's the site:

http://heritage.dupont.com/

 

[Paul]

Thanks to the both of you,
Nylon was developed in the laboratory in Wilmington, they had a monthly budget of $20,000 in 1926 a nice sum back then
It was very secrete as you would expect. I will contact Du Point and Historical Society of Delaware if nothing turns up,
the only reference to this trial sale that I have found is on the Du Points site.