A sensationally bizarre polyurethane, spandex is a long-chain synthetic polymeric fiber. Soft and rubbery segments of polyester or polyether polyols allow the fiber to stretch up to 600% and then recover to its original shape. Hard segments, usually urethanes or urethane-ureas, provide rigidity and so impart tensile strength and limit plastic flow.
Its elastic properties allow spandex to be a fiber now uncorseted by convention.
Even though DuPont's spandex girdles the lion's share of world spandex capacity of about 200 million lb annually, other fiber makers have reached out for a piece of the action. So valuable is DuPont's spandex technology that it was the subject of an extortion attempt 10 years ago. Five DuPont employees, all from DuPont's Lycra spandex plant in Mercedes, Argentina, tried to play a fast-and-loose game. They stole proprietary production technology documents and attempted to extract $10 million from DuPont for their safe return. After a globe-trotting chase that included stops in Wilmington, Del.; Milan, Italy; and Geneva, Switzerland, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Swiss police finally staged a sting to exchange a bogus check for the documents. The operation went awry, but the Swiss police ended up nabbing the extortionists on the rebound in a Geneva parking lot.
It's really no stretch to say that spandex fiber has had a remarkable effect on the clothing we all wear. Ladies' foundation garments are still the foundation of the spandex business, reports Robert L. Kirkwood, DuPont Lycra end use research manager. Spandex started a boom in the 1960s, ushering in an era of "comfortable, soft-support pantyhose and other intimate apparel." However, the fiber soon ended up in men's and women's figure-flattering swimwear and then hit the ski slopes in 1968 in the Lycra garments of the French Olympic ski team. In the 1970s, cyclists traded in their woolen shorts for "aerodynamic" spandex shorts, and the versatile fiber began to find its way into dancewear, tights, and stretch jeans. By the 1980s, Kirkwood says, spandex had a commanding presence in hosiery, and the fiber enlarged its presence among champion and amateur athletes who donned spandex garments to improve their performance if not their appearance.