April 18

Great American Heroes Series:

Joseph Shivers Jr

Inventor of Spandex / Lycra
 

In 1958 at Dupont’s Benger Lab in Waynesboro, Virginia (your blogger’s home state), chemist Joseph Shivers invented the spandex fiber as a replacement for rubber in clothing. Spandex is an anagram for “expands”. After nearly a decade of development, in 1959 Dupont chose Lycra as the brand name for Shivers’ spandex fiber, and a grateful world of gay men has since worshiped at the feet of this textile god. 

Lycra production began in 1962 and continues today at the Waynesboro plant (renamed INVISTA in 2003). By the late 1980s Dupont had trouble meeting worldwide demand. So lucrative was the spandex business that in 2004 a subsidiary of Koch Industries bought Invista from Dupont for 4.4 billion (with a “b”). On January 31, 2019 a Chinese investment holding company acquired the fiber and brand from Invista, but The Lycra Company (the company's current name) remains based in Delaware, home of Dupont Industries.

But I digress. By 2010 it is estimated that 80% of garments sold in the U.S. contain spandex fibers. Just try to imagine swimming, wrestling, skiing, cycling and rowing without it. 

I can’t either.

Did I mention SPANX shapewear for men?

Underwear, Redux

Aaron:

Milo:

Tyler:

God's gifts: