NEW SYNTHETIC YARNS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23175, 22 October 1938, Page 14

NEW SYNTHETIC YARNS

THREAT TO RAW SILK MANUFACTURE IN AMERICA USE IN HOSIERY INDUSTRY (Received October 22, 12.35 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 21 A major upheaval of Japan's economic position through the loss of the huge United States market for raw silk was predicted to-day by American hosiery producers when tho Celanese Corporation of America, manufacturers of acetate process yarns and fabrics, announced that it was erecting in Virginia a 10,000,000-dollar plant for producing an entirely new synthetic 3*arn usable in all textile fields. It was also announced that the Dupont company is. building a 7.000.000-dollar plant in Delaware for producing a new synthetic fibre, also adaptable to various textile uses but intended chiefly for hosiery, which is virtually the only division of textiles in which rayon has not yet made serious inroads. Hosiery, especially feminine, has remained nearly exclusively tho outlet for raw silk, because the synthetic yarns produced hitherto have been too lustrous, inelastic and insufficiently sheer. The Dupont yarn in experiments has been successful in producing hosiery able to compete with all grades of silk stockings, retailing at one dollar or less. It will be a year before either yarn is commercially ready. It is estimated that three-quarters of the 100,000,000 dollars worth of raw silk imported annually is used for hosiery, which illustrates the extent of the Japanese loss if the new yarns justify expectations.