Nylon : New York + London => The Porn Yarn

Ny-lon gets it name from New York and London. When it was first made, it was a yarn that would unwind straight from New York to London . Perhaps, it would have been the first filament yarn.

I call Nylon, the Porn Yarn. Playboy girls are largely covered with nylon . From stockings to lingerie to nets and fancies, Nylon for its silky touch and silvery reflection has all the entrapping for a fashion cat.

Nylon was never a textile friendly yarn. With its poor feel, static cluster, and heat trap, it got quickly abandoned for more cooler yarns like polyester, viscose etc. etc.

Nylon socks still attack my foot and I don't find easily nice cotton socks anywhere. Socks, lingerie, elastics, and sewing threads have still continued to use nylon as the base yarn.

Nylon as long as was pin textured still had the bulk and handle for next to skin applications. But with disc texturizing, it is gives a petroleum extract feeling. Nylon should have technically gone the Air Texturizing route, however, very rarely is air texturized.

Socks and stockings out of Nylon are mal-wares of Textiles and should have long been replaced with other nicer yarns. Though polypropylene has been tried successfully, however, it still does not give a good feel. Cotton and polyester do not have the elastic hug and wool mixed with nylon is still used in cold countries.

Nylon is wonderful, when it comes to Industrial Applications, like Ropes, Cords, Tire Cords, Belting, Conveyors, Composites, parachutes, fishing nets etc. However, here again the technology is largely cabling and twisting. Heavy cabler and twister machines are power suckers. A rather simpler system would have been a winding application with single twist tube passing the package. Given the speeds of winding, the productivity would be anytime better and with the missing spindle, the power will be almost nil.

Same can be applied for spun yarns as well.

Nylon Threads form the best industrial threads for leather and heavy applications. However, time has now come for replacement of these threads with composites like carbon with polyamides or steel with silk etc.

Nylon Fibre could never make it far. Best was about blends with wool. However, for the carpet industry, it was still an unexplored area. Nylon Fibre Woolen blend carpets would have the silky touch and reflectance properties with great washing and bending properties. Blankets is another Area, where low weight and higher heat conductivity can be useful.

Heat Insulation ropes/ fabrics made out of Nylon Wool ,rather then Glass wool, specially for home interior piping are anytime better option.