This talk will cover my current scholarship on the intertwined histories of innovation in the chemistry and design, focusing on fashion as a space that represents multiple representative intersections including industry/innovation and the American chemical/design industries. While the industries related to fashion are myriad, and include dyes, fibers, finishes, patterns, and finished garments, this talk will focus on fibers as a case study. Specifically, I investigate the manufacture and marketing of synthetic fibers by DuPont in the post-World War II using a combination of grounded theory, content analysis, and discourse analysis. The content for this investigation comes from trade journal advertisements, specifically in a trade journal targeted to the chemical, design, and fashion industries. I also touch upon the histories of innovation in chemistry and design, the history of DuPont, additional marketing documents, and previous scholarship on fashion intermediaries (specifically Dorothy Liebes). I will highlight the importance of archival work to the history of chemistry and innovation and underscore archival opportunities available to interdisciplinary researchers.<br/>

Trading innovation across chemistry and design: A content analysis of synthetic fiber advertisements

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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