For more than a dozen centuries after the ancient Romans invented the button, people have been fastening, unbuttoning, and sewing buttons patiently and seemingly without much complaint. It wasn't until 1851 that American inventor Elias Howe applied for a patent called a "sustainable, automatic buttoning tool." Although it sounds wordy, it will provide ideas for convenience in the future.

Forty-four years later, another American inventor, Whitcomb Judson, improved Howe's little invention and named it "clasp". locker). Different from the zippers we are familiar with today, the "hook lock" is composed of two rows of hook eyes and a toothed belt, which is slightly clumsy.

With this invention, Judithon participated in the World's Fair that opened in Chicago that year with high hopes. However, at that exhibition, which was visited by 21 million people, Judison only sold 20 "hook locks".

Judison did not lose confidence. The following year, he and his friends raised funds to open the world's first zipper factory, "Universe Fastener Company". Strangely enough, Judison's biggest worry at the time was not that he couldn't sell the product, but that he couldn't even find anyone willing to try the new product. At first, Judison hoped that it would replace the complex buckles on women's boots, but bootmakers were reluctant to buy his idea. The reason may be that this fastener is prone to rust and often gets stuck. In April 1896, Judison finally secured her first sale: several officials from the U.S. Postal Department ordered 20 mail bags equipped with "hook latches," but the first batch of zipper bags were quickly discarded due to mechanical failure. , no one from the Postal Department came again.

In 1905, Judison introduced a new separate patented clamp: C-curity. This time, Judison clearly positioned the target market at women's clothing, and also painstakingly came up with a series of advertising slogans with a very historical sense:

"1782, Dusseleland Theater, Hinton Mrs. Strass tied her costume with a belt";

"1850, Castle Garden Theatre, Janea Lynde appeared on stage wearing a hook-and-eye girdle";

"In 1901, Weber Frederic Hall, Lillian Russell pressed her button with a 'snap'";

"And now: you just pull it gently , everything is done - the skirt will no longer loosen unintentionally. This is the wonderful thing about the 'C-curity' brand women's skirt."

Explanatory document produced by Sunburk to apply for a zipper patent

"None" represents advanced productivity

Except for this advertisement that uses montage techniques , Judison also used the business strategy of "teaching you step by step" when promoting products. In his opinion, it was impossible for grocery store clerks who lacked responsibility to fully understand the convenience that this new product could provide to customers. Therefore, he provided a detailed instruction manual for each pair of "C-curity" teeth. Facts have proved that the manual of the gear teeth was to the consumers at that time what the manual of digital products is to the consumers of today. Before the end of World War II, the clips were always equipped with instructions that included the following precautions:

"When opening the clips, please be careful to stretch the edge of the skirt to prevent tearing the skirt";

"When using one hand to close the latches, grab the hem of the skirt with the other hand, and then pull it to the end without stopping";

"If you encounter a situation where you cannot pull it, Pull it back first, and then pull it when it feels loose. Do not use excessive force."

Compared with the first generation zipper, the "C-curity" brand teeth have indeed made great progress, but its shortcomings are still obvious: the separate design leads to poor firmness. Henry Petrowski once wrote in his monograph "The Evolution of Practical Goods" that this kind of zipper often suddenly collapses or gets stuck at the "most inconvenient time", causing the user to sweep the floor gracefully, how embarrassing it is. How embarrassing. In addition, the cost of this kind of clamping teeth is extremely high, and no garment manufacturer is willing to accept such a fancy gadget that doubles the cost.

However, the bleak market outlook did not deter Judison. After he renamed the company "Automatic Hook and Eye Company", he hired a group of salesmen to cross the ocean and go to Europe to open up new markets.

At the beginning, Europeans did not seem to have much interest in this invention. But just when Judison was thinking of quitting, the zipper's fate took a major turn - Canadian immigrant Gideon Sundback joined Judison's company. Thornburgh was very smart and worked very hard. He was soon promoted to the company's chief designer, and in 1906 he launched a new brand of clamping teeth "Plako" for the company.

Though "Plako" was as flawed as "C-curity," Judison was moved by Sanberg's drive. The "Father of Modern Zippers" who was determined to promote zippers around the world decided to entrust the company to Sandberg. It turned out that Judison had the right person. In 1913, Thornburgh designed a new "hookless fastener". Speaking of the name of this new product, there are some allusions. In that era, "nothing" represented advanced productivity. People called cars "horseless carriages" and radios as "radios." From this point of view, "toothless fasteners" were considered a trendy product at the time.

Despite their fashionability, toothless fasteners have failed miserably on the market. Soon, Sandback introduced a new product that was more flexible and coated with rust inhibitor. The number of teeth was increased from 4 to 10 per inch, and the bite was tighter and the texture was smoother. This new product, which already had the prototype of a modern zipper, was eventually named "Toothless Fastener No. 2". Soon after, Thornburgh simply changed the name of the company to "Toothless Fastener Company".

In 1914, the clothing industry's attitude towards zipper products finally relaxed. A small number of garment manufacturers expressed their willingness to try "Toothless Fastener No. 2". A sportswear company also launched a zipper in 1916. There is a skirt with "no tooth fasteners" on the front and back.

"Hook Lock"

Transformation from military to civilian use

However, it was the war that really brought zippers into the market. During World War I, in order to adapt to the needs of rapid marches, toothless fasteners were used in military moth-proof wardrobes and sleeping bags. Soon after, a company that designed clothing for pilots also installed such fasteners on aviation suits. Perhaps because pilots generally like the feeling of being different, the zippered flight suit produced by this company was an instant hit. During World War II, zippered flight suits became the industry standard and are still in use today.

The person who took the "Toothless Fastener Company" to a new level of career was Robert J. Ewig. This ordinary man who just wanted to make a fortune submitted a successful marketing plan to the company: designing toothless fasteners for military belt bags. Since the military at that time was suffering from the lack of easy-to-seal pockets, the waist bag named after Evig quickly became popular after its launch. For the first time, Thornburg's company saw the good situation of "supply exceeding demand". By the end of World War I, the company had sold a total of 24,000 "Evig" pocket bags, making a profit of $77,000.

After the physical promotion of military supplies, the new fastening method that Judison and Sunburk worked hard to improve for many years finally opened up the civilian market. Toothless fasteners "No. 3", "No. 4" and "No. 5" gradually appeared on raincoats, swimsuits, bathrobes and tennis racket covers. Sandberg no longer worries about the future of the product. What he has to deal with next is the personalized solutions proposed by different customers. In 1919, the "Toothless Fastener Company" jointly launched the "Toothless Fastener" with tobacco manufacturers with great commercial vision. By the mid-1920s, the production and sales of tobacco bag fasteners accounted for 70% of the company's total business.

In 1923, the B.F. Goodrich Shoe Company was preparing to launch a new type of high-rise rubber overshoes on the market. In order to attract customers' attention to the greatest extent, company owner Goodrich ordered 150,000 fasteners from Thornburg's company.

Goodrich is indeed a veteran in business war. He was inspired by the sound of fasteners pulling (z-z-z-i-p) and invented the word "zipper" that is all too familiar to people today. This catchy name not only made the "zipper galoshes" well received by consumers, but also found an easily identifiable symbol for the zipper.

Men finally have "trouser gate keepers"

It was the 1930s when zippers finally took over the clothing market. At that time, there was a children's clothing competition in the clothing industry, and the children's clothing with zippers finally stood out because people believed that zipper clothing can improve children's self-confidence and autonomy. In 1935, fashion design master Elisa Zinparlier boldly launched a series of fashions featuring zipper design. At the same time, the American-British writer A.D. Huxley (grandson of the British naturalist T.H. Huxley) mentioned the use of zippers as men's "trouser gates" in his masterpiece "Brave New World" Conception.

With the help of the fashion created by the writer, the zipper finally took on a new identity in 1937 - the "keeper of the trouser door" for men. In this regard, French fashion designers unanimously praise it, not entirely because of convenience, but because "it looks sexy"! The famous fashion magazine "Esquire" commented that the zipper is "the most innovative design idea for men's clothing" and "with it, embarrassing negligence will be gone forever." Since the time they had been exposed to zippers was still too short, people at that time obviously had not thought about the embarrassment zippers would cause to people, nor did they know how many people would suffer unspeakable injuries due to zippers in the future, let alone the United States. There will be a president who was nearly brought down by Zippergate. However, in any case, the shaky days of zippers are finally over.

Nowadays, zippers of various types and materials can be seen everywhere. However, looking back at the difficult development history of zippers, people will find that zippers are actually an inevitable choice for the development of the times, and what accompanies its growth along the way is the gradually evolving life philosophy of human beings. Thanks to the perseverance of Judison, Thunberg and others for their entrepreneurial spirit, we can enjoy the convenience brought by this important invention. Finally, the development history of zippers also illustrates how important "justifiable name" is for a new invention