Spandex

Spandex is the stretch fiber, an elastomer that can extend to several times its length and snap back without sagging, far stronger and more durable than the rubber thread it replaced. It was invented at DuPont by Joseph Shivers in 1958 and marketed as Lycra. Almost never used alone, it is blended in small amounts into other fibers to add stretch and recovery, and it remade swimwear, hosiery, athletic and shapewear, and the close-fitting clothing of the late twentieth century. A few percent of spandex turns a rigid cloth into a stretch one.