Here’s a fun fact, with the billions of items made each year with zippers, it is estimated that the roughly 7 billion zippers produced annually by YKK is about half of all the zippers made on planet Earth!
YKK, a Japanese company founded in the 1930’s, stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha and has the largest zipper factory in the world in Macon, Georgia USA, producing 7 million zippers a day!
That’s obviously a lot of zippers! But unlike other zipper brands you might find on your favorite jacket, YKK is easily available as a replacement zipper. In one sense, that’s too bad for other brands because the manufacturers gladly sell to clothing makers in bulk but their products fail and a replacement may not be available. But then it’s YKK to the rescue with the help and expertise of ReplaceZipper.
Who Invented the Zipper?
This question dates back to an era when buttons ruled. Imagine those “good ol’ days” of dressing up in your outerwear and repeatedly buttoning up and down for your goings in and out. Or what about a button fly and multiple items of clothing worn back then? On man, you better plan ahead for bodily functions!
American ingenuity once again changed history when Whitcomb Judson invented what he called the chain lock fastener in the 1890’s, which would become what we know as the zipper. His company, Talon, Inc. still exists as a major zipper manufacturer for the fashion industry.
YKK however, is credited with revolutionizing zipper design, creating a self-locking puller that is easy to pull without slipping, stays in place, and maintains reliable function and new-like appearance through decades of use. These qualities and more have made YKK the most popular zipper brand in the world.