Puzzle no longer over the perplexing term: polyamide simply means "nylon." All right, technically, the term "polyamide" refers to any "polymer containing repeating amide groups," and that includes natural fibers like wool and silk -- but at an Imperial Guess, clothing and yarn manufacturers would sooner put "wool" or "silk" on a label than "polyamide," so it's likely that "polyamide" in the context of fiber content labels is probably nylon, or some other plastic. (Kevlar is also a manufactured polyamide, if you prefer to think of your clothing as part Kevlar. Just don't 'spect your stunning forest-green cardigan to stop bullets.)
Anyway, call it a thermoplastic polycondensate if you like (some do, believe it or not), but that strange word showing up on your clothing labels is another fancy name for plastic stuff. According to eFunda, polyamide is also used to make "high-lubricity parts," which, also according to them, somehow encompasses clothing fabric. (Shh. The "e" in "eFunda" stands for "engineering." They don't teach fashion design in engineering classes, last We checked ... Can't tell, can you?)Polyamide has a host of other uses, in car parts, electrical parts, construction, household equipment, and machinery, and is also applied to stuff (e.g., glass) as a thin film or a powder coating. It's super-abrasion-resistant, but the Imperial Instinct says that it's probably like other plastics: not very breathable. And as sayeth the illustrious Wikipedia, plastics may present the problem of outgassing, or giving off funny chemicals, which could bother chemically sensitive individuals. The Green Imperial Edict encourages simplicity: pass up anything labeled polyamide, and go for the good stuff. We'd rather spend Our money on organic cotton, anyway.
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