It’s a sound so common, so everyday, we barely register it anymore. The quick rip of interlocking teeth, the smooth glide of metal or plastic – the zipper is an unsung hero of modern convenience. We find it on jackets, trousers, bags, boots, tents, and countless other items. Closing up openings quickly and securely seems like such a simple concept now, but getting to the reliable zipper we use today was a journey fraught with frustration, near misses, and flashes of genuine inventive brilliance. It wasn’t a single ‘eureka’ moment, but rather a slow, incremental process of refinement.
The Precursors: Fasteners Before the Zip
Long before the satisfying buzz of a modern zipper, people relied on more laborious methods. Buttons, hooks-and-eyes, laces, and buckles did the job, but they could be time-consuming, fiddly, and prone to failure. Imagine lacing up tall boots every single morning or fastening dozens of tiny hooks on a dress. The need for something faster and more efficient was simmering.
The very first glimmer of an idea resembling a zipper came from Elias Howe, the man famous for inventing the sewing machine. In 1851, he patented an “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure.” It sounds promising, right? Howe’s design involved a series of clasps united by a connecting cord, operated by a slider. However, preoccupied with his sewing machine ventures, Howe never actually marketed this invention. It remained a footnote, a hint of what might be possible, but ultimately didn’t change how people fastened their clothes. The world wasn’t quite ready, and perhaps the design itself wasn’t quite right.
Whitcomb Judson’s Clunky Contender
Fast forward about four decades. Enter Whitcomb L. Judson, an inventor from Chicago with a portfolio ranging from streetcar improvements to pneumatic systems. Judson wasn’t necessarily thinking about high fashion; his motivation was reportedly more practical – helping a friend with a stiff back who struggled to do up his high-button boots. In 1893, Judson patented his “Clasp Locker or Unlocker for Shoes.” This device is often considered the true ancestor of the modern zipper.
Judson’s invention used a system of hooks and eyelets connected row by row, pulled together by a “guide” or slider. He even started the Universal Fastener Company to manufacture his invention. He debuted it at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, hoping for a sensation. Unfortunately, the Clasp Locker was complex, bulky, expensive, and – crucially – prone to popping open unexpectedly. It wasn’t the smooth, reliable fastener we know. While it was a step towards automation, it didn’t gain widespread public acceptance. It was an intriguing novelty, but far from a practical solution for everyday clothing or footwear.
Whitcomb Judson’s initial “Clasp Locker” was a commercial disappointment. Despite his efforts and showcasing it at the World’s Fair, the device was unreliable and often malfunctioned. Its tendency to spring open made it impractical for widespread use. This early struggle highlights the difficulty in perfecting such a seemingly simple mechanism.
Gideon Sundback: Refining the Revolution
The real breakthrough came thanks to Gideon Sundback, a Swedish-American electrical engineer hired by Judson’s Universal Fastener Company. Sundback possessed the technical skill and perseverance that Judson’s initial concept lacked. He married Judson’s daughter, Elvira Aronson, and became deeply involved in improving the fastener design, driven partly by the company’s financial struggles and partly by his own engineering curiosity.
Sundback made several crucial modifications between 1906 and 1913. He realised the hook-and-eye system was inherently flawed. His genius lay in replacing them with small, identical, interlocking teeth. His key innovations included:
- The “Hookless Fastener No. 1” (around 1909): This still had some issues but moved away from the large hooks and eyes.
- The “Hookless Fastener No. 2” (patented 1913, issued 1917): This is the design that forms the basis of the modern zipper. Sundback increased the number of fastening elements per inch (from around four to ten or eleven).
- The scoop-and-bump system: Each tooth was designed with a dimple (scoop) on one side and a bump (point) on the other.
- The Y-shaped slider: This clever device guided the teeth together, neatly locking the bumps into the scoops of the opposing teeth. It also guided them apart when moved in the opposite direction.
- Teeth clamped onto fabric tape: Sundback developed a method to securely clamp the metal teeth onto two strips of fabric tape, making the fastener easy to sew into garments or other items.
Sundback’s “Hookless No. 2” was elegant, reliable, and efficient. It was the quantum leap the fastener world needed. He also designed the machinery required to mass-produce his invention, a critical step towards commercial viability.
Gideon Sundback’s 1917 U.S. Patent (filed in 1913) for the “Separable Fastener” described the innovative system of interlocking scoops and bumps. His design dramatically increased the number of teeth per inch compared to Judson’s version. This density and the clever interlocking shape provided the necessary strength and reliability that previous attempts lacked. Sundback’s invention truly laid the foundation for the zippers we use globally today.
Getting the Name and Finding a Market
Despite Sundback’s technical triumph, the invention was still known by the rather uninspired name “hookless fastener.” The catchy name “zipper” came about a few years later. In 1923, the B.F. Goodrich Company started using Sundback’s fastener on their new rubber galoshes. Legend has it that an executive, impressed by the zipping sound the fastener made when opening and closing the boots, exclaimed something along the lines of “Zip ‘er up!” The name stuck.
B.F. Goodrich trademarked the name “Zipper” for their boots, but it quickly became the popular, generic term for all slide fasteners, much to the chagrin of companies trying to market their own versions under different names. Initially, adoption was slow and focused on utilitarian items. Early uses included:
- Tobacco pouches: Keeping tobacco fresh required an airtight seal, which the new fastener provided well.
- Money belts: The secure closure offered peace of mind for travelers.
- Military applications: During World War I, the U.S. Army and Navy applied zippers to flying suits and money belts, valuing their speed and reliability under pressure. This military use helped to demonstrate the fastener’s durability.
Fashion Zips In
The fashion world, however, remained hesitant for quite some time. Buttons and hooks were traditional, and there were perhaps concerns about the mechanical look of the zipper, or worries about its reliability on delicate fabrics. It took a daring fashion designer to truly bring the zipper into the realm of high style.
Elsa Schiaparelli’s Bold Move
In the 1930s, avant-garde Parisian couturier Elsa Schiaparelli embraced the zipper, incorporating visible, often colourful plastic zippers into her sportswear and haute couture designs. She didn’t hide them; she celebrated them as functional and decorative elements. This was a radical move that helped legitimise the zipper as a fashionable component, not just a utilitarian closure. Her influence encouraged other designers to experiment.
By the late 1930s, zippers started appearing more frequently, particularly in menswear (the “battle of the fly” saw zippers competing with buttons on trousers) and children’s clothing, where ease of use was a major selling point. Esquire magazine declared the zipper the “Newest Tailoring Idea for Men” in 1937, helping boost its popularity.
The Zipper Becomes Ubiquitous
World War II further cemented the zipper’s place, with its widespread use on military uniforms, tents, sleeping bags, and equipment. After the war, as manufacturing capabilities boomed and materials like nylon became available (leading to lighter, more flexible plastic zippers), the zipper transitioned from a novelty or specialized item to an everyday essential. It became cheaper to produce and integrate into mass-market clothing and accessories.
Today, zippers are everywhere, produced in countless sizes, materials (metal, plastic coil, molded plastic), and colours by global manufacturers like YKK Group. From heavy-duty brass zippers on leather jackets to tiny, almost invisible zippers on formal dresses, Sundback’s fundamental design principles endure. It’s a testament to brilliant engineering that solved a simple, yet universal problem: how to quickly and reliably join two pieces of material. The next time you zip up, take a moment to appreciate the century of innovation packed into that small, ingenious device – a true product of unzipping history.
