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Textiles & Apparel · Recorded milestone

Polyester

Recorded year1941

Whinfield and Dickson create PET fibre, now the most-used textile.

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Built on

NylonRecorded · 1935enables

Led to

SpandexRecorded · 1958enables
Floppy diskRecorded · 1971requires
PET plastic drinks bottleRecorded · 1973enables
Recycled-bottle fleeceRecorded · 1993enables
Waterless dyeingRecorded · 2012enables
Plastic-eating bacteriaRecorded · 2016enables
Radiative-cooling fabricsForecast · ~2028enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.