The Synthetic Revolution

The wartime invention of polyester in an Accrington laboratory has global significance in the current plastics crisis as the synthetic fabrics that are ubiquitous in today’s fashion industry are derived from fossil fuels. Curated by academic and artist Claire Wellesley-Smith and fashion historian and broadcaster Amber Butchart, The Synthetic Revolution explores the origins of this story, tracing it back to 1941 when the drawing of a polymer into the first polyester fibre went on to position it at the heart of the modern textile industry. The discovery was later produced and marketed as ‘Terylene’ by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).

For two decades synthetic fabrics were seen as wonder products that would revolutionise modern life. From its laboratory origins, this exhibition investigates how synthetics became part of everyday life, from the intimacy of the home – where they transformed women’s domestic labour – to the shops which sold newly fashionable silhouettes. It also considers how synthetics became both global and intergalactic, as a crucial technology for Cold War competition and conflict.