One of the interesting things about strippers and their gear is that almost all have massive dance bags, yet the actual outfits can fit in the palm of your hand. Seems kind of odd to have a big roller case for items you could stuff in your hip pocket. There is a lot more in a dancer’s bag than just clothes. Make-up, shoes, repair kit, medicine are only some of the gear found in a dance bag. While the platform heels and brass pole may be mostly identified with strippers, the Lycra© outfit is probably a close third.
Lycra© is DuPont’s trade name for Spandex. The first Spandex fibers were created in 1952 by the German chemist Farbenfabriken Bayer. Several companies developed materials from the Spandex fibers in the late 1950’s. DuPont’s Lycra didn’t go mass production until 1962. Spandex is known by other trade names as well; Elaspan, Linel, ROICA, and ESPA.
The name Spandex itself is an anagram of “expands”. This refers to the fact the Spandex molecule can stretch to 500 times its original length. However once it gets turned into a fiber and woven into a fabric it can’t expand quite that much. Spandex is made by combining two polymers. This creates a molecule with two segments, one lone and one short. The short segment is rigid, the long segment is elastic. When the spandex is resting (not being stretched) the short segments will bond (kind of like Velcro) and the material will take shape. When the molecule is stretched the short bonds actually break and material will expand. When you relax the material the molecules return to its normal size and the short bonds will reform, letting the material return to its normal shape.
The short bonds will eventually fail and material will begin to sag. Spandex is made using a wet spinning, dry spinning process, reaction spinning or melt extrusion process. The raw materials for Spandex are combined and forced through a nozzle called a spinneret.
Here are some interesting properties of Spandex. It melts at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, but temperatures above 300 F will begin to damage the material. Spandex fiber thickness is measured in “denier”. A one denier fiber will weight 1 gram at 9000 meters long. The thinnest Spandex fibers are 10 deniers. Thicker fibers can be up to 2500 deniers.
Different Spandex weaves
Supposedly in Sweden it is illegal for somebody weighing over 30 stone (420lbs) to wear Spandex. I found this tidbit on a couple web sites, but I don’t quite believe it. Sweden uses the metric system (kilograms) not stones, which is an older British unit of weight. You can’t trust everything you read on the internet. Except my blog, of course.
Lycra© is DuPont’s trade name for Spandex. The first Spandex fibers were created in 1952 by the German chemist Farbenfabriken Bayer. Several companies developed materials from the Spandex fibers in the late 1950’s. DuPont’s Lycra didn’t go mass production until 1962. Spandex is known by other trade names as well; Elaspan, Linel, ROICA, and ESPA.
The name Spandex itself is an anagram of “expands”. This refers to the fact the Spandex molecule can stretch to 500 times its original length. However once it gets turned into a fiber and woven into a fabric it can’t expand quite that much. Spandex is made by combining two polymers. This creates a molecule with two segments, one lone and one short. The short segment is rigid, the long segment is elastic. When the spandex is resting (not being stretched) the short segments will bond (kind of like Velcro) and the material will take shape. When the molecule is stretched the short bonds actually break and material will expand. When you relax the material the molecules return to its normal size and the short bonds will reform, letting the material return to its normal shape.
The short bonds will eventually fail and material will begin to sag. Spandex is made using a wet spinning, dry spinning process, reaction spinning or melt extrusion process. The raw materials for Spandex are combined and forced through a nozzle called a spinneret.
Here are some interesting properties of Spandex. It melts at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, but temperatures above 300 F will begin to damage the material. Spandex fiber thickness is measured in “denier”. A one denier fiber will weight 1 gram at 9000 meters long. The thinnest Spandex fibers are 10 deniers. Thicker fibers can be up to 2500 deniers.
Different Spandex weaves
Supposedly in Sweden it is illegal for somebody weighing over 30 stone (420lbs) to wear Spandex. I found this tidbit on a couple web sites, but I don’t quite believe it. Sweden uses the metric system (kilograms) not stones, which is an older British unit of weight. You can’t trust everything you read on the internet. Except my blog, of course.
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