Speakman’s snazzy shower head and a look back at nylon fashion craze

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Doug Rainey
Doug Rainey

By Doug Rainey, Business Bulletin Editor

Speakman Co., the New Castle plumbing equipment manufacturer, is moving to the cutting edge in design with a new line of shower heads.

In fact, the new line is known as The Edge Collection. “Walk the tightrope of modern fashion with the cutting-edge flair of The Edge Collection,” Speakman suggested in announcing the collection,

That does not mean Speakman has dropped its venerable line of shower heads. The shower heads last a long time and the company offers spare parts when the assembly wears out.

Students of Delaware industrial history know that the company, based for many years in Wilmington, helped popularize the shower at a time when most people took tub baths.

Nylon and fashion

Nylon2Hagley is taking a look back at nylon and the sensation its introduction caused in the late 1930s. The exhibit is included an admission ticket to the museum and library near Wilmington.

As noted in a release on the exhibit, on Oct. 27, 1938, DuPont Vice-President Charles A. Stine announced nylon hosiery to 3,000 women’s club members attending the New York Herald Tribune Eighth Annual Forum on Current Problems. The audience burst into applause. Both 1939 World’s Fairs in New York and San Francisco had DuPont exhibits showing the wonders of the new nylon hosiery. By the time of the first public sale on October 24, 1939, in Wilmington, women were more than eager to own nylon stockings. The sale was so successful that within the first 3 hours of the sale, 4,000 pairs were sold.

On February 10, 1942, all production of nylon was allocated to the war effort. In the accompanying photo, worn out nylon stockings are collected for use as parachute material during World War II.

When hosiery became available once again in 1945, so many people came out to buy them on the first day of sales that it was called the “nylon riots” in the press. Nylon hosiery was in such demand that it was available in vending machines in places such as airports and bus stations.

DuPont has moved beyond nylon, selling the business to Koch Industries, which operates it under the Invista name. The company has office operations in Wilmington and a plant in Seaford.