Polycaprolactam was developed by Paul Schlack at IG Farben in late 1930s (first synthesized in 1938) to reproduce the properties of Nylon 66 without violating the patent on its production.

It was marketed as Perlon, and industrial production with a capacity of 3,500 tons per year was established in Nazi Germany in 1943, using phenol as a feedstock.

The Soviet Union began its development of an analog in the 1940s, while negotiating with Germany on building an IG Farben plant in Ukraine,[when?]

Nylon 6 can be modified using comonomers or stabilizers during polymerization to introduce new chain end or functional groups, which changes the reactivity and chemical properties.

When caprolactam is heated at about 533 K in an inert atmosphere of nitrogen for about 4–5 hours, the ring breaks and undergoes polymerization.

As a synthetic fibre, Nylon 6 is generally white but can be dyed in a solution bath prior to production for different color results.

Marks developed rare earth metallocene catalysts that rapidly break Nylon 6 down back to caprolactam at 220°C, which is considered mild conditions.