Sixth Fabric

A few years ago Francis DeWitt and Paul Bryant were neighbors in Colonial Heights, N. Y., a Manhattan suburb. Upshot of their acquaintance was a new fabric, made from cellulose and named Pervel. By last week Pervel Corp.'s President DeWitt and Vice President Bryant were pretty sure their product was going places; somewhat ambitiously they were referring to it as the sixth fabric (cotton, wool, linen, silk, rayon are the five others).

The story of ex-Advertising Men DeWitt and Bryant's discovery of Pervel begins like a copywriter's nightmare. For a year they messed around in each other's bathrooms making experiments, hung the results on shower rods to dry. What they had in mind was something soft, strong, as limp as silk, something that would look like cloth and could be made as cheaply as paper. The problem turned out to be too tough for a private bathroom so they took it to the chemists of Brown Paper Co. in Portland, Me. Out of spruce. Brown Co. makes a Solka pulp used as raw material for rayons. Cellophane, plastics, film, even food (powdered cellulose for people who want to reduce). When Brown Co.'s chemists had the new material worked out, Messrs. DeWitt and Bryant named it Pervel and started Pervel Corp.

For onetime advertising men, they have been remarkably closemouthed. Pervel, unlike rayon, is neither spun nor woven. After the Solka pulp is made into what is called "Brown Wet Strength material" in Berlin, N. H., it goes to the Pervel Corp. plant in Worcester, Mass., to be treated till it becomes a material that looks not unlike percale or broadcloth.

Since Pervel cannot be washed, is to be thrown away when dirty, it must sell for less than the cost of laundering. That meant mass production, and first of all Messrs. DeWitt and Bryant had to explore their market. They sold bibs in small sample lots to dentists; Thomas Textile Co. started manufacturing Sanitex diaper linings out of Pervel which have lately been selling in department stores at 25-c- for 40. Last month about 100 retailers, including Lord & Taylor, Altman and Wanamaker in Manhattan, began selling Pyno pillowcases made of Pervel, pine-scented for people with hay fever. In a month, with no advertising, they sold some 60,000. This week Pervel Corp. puts on the market plain pillowcases at 10-c- apiece.

Rapidly overcoming their early taciturnity as their idea catches on, Messrs. DeWitt and Bryant now speak of aprons, bed linen, table linen, dresses (next month Pervel will be available in color prints), rain capes, curtains, mats, even handkerchiefs and tea bags. But they do not want to go on manufacturing their own articles. They would prefer to supply only the material, as they have to Thomas Textile, and license other manufacturers to operate under their patents. The Pervel plant in Worcester can turn out eight tons, 100,000 yards each day.

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