At the beginning of the 70’s people began buying more clothes made of polyester. This was due to a wave of consumer protection demands for a mandated Federal flammability standard on clothing, they found polyester was much less flammable than cotton. The manufactured fiber industry spent $20 million on flammability research and development in 1973 and manufactured fiber fabrics became predominant in the clothing market. Flammability standards were also issued for carpets and many other products. In the US carpet market 99% of all surface fibers and now manufactured. In late 1973 the nation had a huge energy crisis and the manufactured fiber industry reduced the required power to produce a pound of fiber by 26%. The industry was then only using
