Nylon Rations during World War II

Date
Fall 1990

Christine Crist (Class of 1946) shares about female student life during World War II in a 1990 interview. Rations affected everything from food to clothing. She remembers collecting tin cans and having ration books for food and other supplies. In the Crist family, Christine's father did not acquire a new pair of shoes for the entire duration of the war, getting shoes instead for Christine's "two younger sisters with fast-growing feet." Nylons, just introduced in 1940, went off the market during World War II since the material was used in parachutes. In order to compensate for this loss, women used leg paint. Occasionally, a store would procure some nylons, and female students would "rush in nonchalantly, buy a sweater, and then say, 'Oh, by the way, can I have a pair of nylons' 'cause you just couldn't just buy them."

Location of Document in Archives
World War II Oral History, Crist, Christine