Spandex

Spandex is a stretchy, very durable fabric that has been used for many, many years in the production of baseball pants, bike shorts, some swim wear, some underwear, book covers that students use on their school books, and so much more. Spandex was also worn as a fashion trend in the late seventies and throughout the eighties. Some say that it dates all the way back to ancient Egypt, only back in those days, it would have been made out of edible fibers, so the odds of proving that today are slim to none. They're wrong. Spandex came out in the early 1940's as a material known as polyurethane. It was invented by William Hanford and Donald Holmes. Back then, women's underwear was lined with rubber, this replaced the rubber. However, it did not get mass produced until 1959. It has also been used in wet suits, and has been used to replace rubber in a lot of things, because of the way it is designed to act like rubber, if you will. The hard part of getting it to act like rubber, is the fact that it's not quite as indestructible as rubber in many ways as many people have had to learn the hard way.