Requiem for a Polymer

Ever since Du Pont scientists in the 1930s mixed coal tar, air and water to produce nylon, the wizards of Wilmington, Del., have been searching and researching for another equally profitable synthetic smash. By 1964, Du Pont chemists thought that they had found it: a porous polymer that looked and felt like leather, yet wore like armor plate. The company thereupon introduced Corfam, a weatherproof shoe material, predicting that by 1984 every fourth foot in the country would be encased in it. Du Pont stock rose to an all-time top of 293 3/4.

Last week Du Pont announced that, after seven years of bad luck, it is walking out on Corfam. Though some 100 million pairs of synthetic shoes are still afoot, the firm has lost as much as $100 million trying to make and market its material. A flood of inferior but cheaper leather substitutes crowded Corfam out of the low-priced shoe market, company men said, and consumers kept favoring leather for expensive footwear. Many people complained that Corfam shoes were hard to break in and hot to wear. The company was never able to reduce production costs enough to make the material profitable for use in luggage and other leather goods. While production of Corfam is being phased out over the next year, Du Pont will continue the quest for another miracle product.

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