The Man in the White Suit seems to me to be partially a satire on Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead. Alec Guinness plays Sidney Stratton deadpan in the role of the lone, mad scientist of the British clothing industry. Stratton is on a mission to create a new fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out. His bizarre quest gets him fired from one after another jobs as a scientist as he diverts (or as the British would say, cadges) equipment and supplies from companies to his projects. He then works as a janitor still cadging supplies and hiding his experiments until he is discovered and promoted by the daughter (Joan Greenwood) of one of the captains of industry.After he is promoted, he is given full support for his bizarre idea. Then, another of the elements of satire is the mad scientist of the horror films of the late 40's, with suitable lights flashing, "boops....beeps" and water gurgling sound effects, and a few explosions of the works.This leads to curiosity...what is he up to? Then, word leaks out that he is working on a cloth that never gets dirty and never wears out. At first it sounds like a good idea but soon the Schumpeterian creative destruction implications of this invention for jobs, businesses, and industries, becomes clear to the industry leaders, the unions, and the ordinary workers. Then, another object of satire in this movie proceeds as all the groups go to battle against each other and then eventually against this man and his invention.Then the movie goes into a chase scene with Guinness wearing this incredibly luminous white suit..... but you'll have to watch the movie to find out how it ends.