The fabric known as nylon was invented in 1935 by a chemist, known as Wallace Carothers, who worked in a large American company called Du Pont.
His aim was to invent a material as a substitute to silk, which was and is a very expensive fabric, the US imported it from Japan, but as there was a growing hostility between these two countries this trade began to cease.
However, before Du Pont were able to launch their new product, it needed a name as the chemical term of “polyhexamethyleneadipamide” wasn’t for obvious reasons suitable.
A few names were experimented with but eventually nylon was the word that everyone agreed upon, but nobody really knows who was responsible for the final name.
Nylon first went on sale in 1939.