fabric, woven
date: label: Date made
content: c. 1943
notes: label: Description
content: Scientists began looking for a manufactured fiber to compete with wool in the 19th century. The first useful fiber was introduced by Snia Viscosa at the 1939 World Fair in New York. The fiber was known as Lanital, and was made from the casein in milk. While the Italians were working on Lantial, American chemists at National Dairy Corporation, and the United States Department of Agriculture were working on a simailar fiber. the American version was known as Aralac, and was produced by Atlanta Research Assoicates, a division of National Dairy Corporation. Aralac and Lantial were not intended to be cheap replacements for wool, rather they were to be high fashion fibers in competition with wool. Like wool, both Aralac and Lanital had a protein base. During WWII there was little wool fabric available for American civilians, so Aralac was blended with rayon and acetate, and used in its place. Although the fiber performed well, its strangh and abrasion resistance were low. The production of Aralac stopped in 1948, as National Dairy found other more lucrative uses for casein. This fabric from 1943, waas made with yarns which are a blend of Aralac, rayon and acetate. The large cluster on the left is undyed Aralac fiber.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of J.P. Stevens & Co. Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T08891.000
label: accession number
content: 165974
label: catalog number
content: T08891.000
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Fabric, woven
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: viscose rayon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: spun rayon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: aralac (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: aqua (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: woven (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 31 in x 36 in; 78.74 cm x 91.44 cm