J. R. Whinfield – co-producer of the first thermoplastic polyester fiber along with J. T. Dickson at Calico Printers Association in Great Britain between the years 1939 to 1941. The two produced a polyester fiber by condensation polymerisation of ethylene glycol with terephthalic acid.

Although the aliphatic polyesters prepared by Wallace Carothers of DuPont during his earlier research had proved unrewarding, The aromatic polyesters had remained largely unexplored. By 1939, sufficient evidence had been accumulated favouring the theory that microcrystallinity was essential for the formation of strong synthetic fibres. The need for molecular symmetry in forming microcrystalline polymers was the basis for Whinfield and Dickson’s theoretical approach to the problem, and use of an aromatic based polymer should give a polymer with a sufficiently high melting temperature for synthetic fibre manufacture.

DuPont subsequently acquired the patent rights for the United States and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) for the rest of the world.

The best thing about Polyester, and the reason that most of our outdoor gear is made of the stuff, is that it’s hydrophobic, meaning the fiber doesn’t absorb water, unlike nylon which is hydrophilic. Nylon may be stronger but its inability to repel water causes the fabric to swell and ultimately weakens the molecular structure. The dye used in nylon also oxidizes in sunlight, which causes anything from fading to complete degradation of the polymer matrix (this is why the colors fade faster in nylon and not in Polyester.

The actual damage done is a strength drop of around 40% in nylon after 250 hours of direct exposure to sunlight and 65% after 500 hours, with Polyester being just 15% and 30%, making the warnings about leaving ropes out of the sun or covering your tent when left up for days, worth heeding.

The better suitability of Polyester over nylon for clothing has meant that it now dominates 54% of the textile market and so by 1953 the majority of the 20th Century’s basic manufactured s had now had been discovered. So the industry’s engineers turned to refining their chemical and physical properties to extend their use across industry – leading to fibres advances such as three dimensional hollow-cored fibre, bullet-stopping Kevlar and fire and electricity proof Nomex.

The cheap availability of man-made fabrics not only led the way to cheaper and mass-produced good quality clothing (the democratization of quality if you like), it also helped to make it cheaper as a climber to kit oneself out in state-of-the-art gear, something not possible in the days of gabardine, Ventile and silk. But perhaps the pinnacle of the history of synthetics came on the afternoon of July 20th 1969, when Neil Armstrong took “One small step” in 25 layers of man-made materials and planted the U.S. flag made from nylon on the surface of the moon.[ref]Andy Kirkpatrick, http://www.andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/a_short_history_of_man_made_fabrics[/ref]