Is a redesign for zippers overdue by 100 years? Or are we trying to fix something that’s not broken?

BY MARÍA JOSÉ GUTIERREZ CHAVEZ, EDITORIAL FELLOW

Photo: Courtesy YKK

Few inventions reach such widespread use as the zipper. Odds are, you’re wearing a zippered garment right now. And yet—in its over 100-year-old history—it has received no significant updates. Until a few years ago.

Traditional zippers rely on a piece of fabric surrounding the teeth, which is sewn into garments. This is called a tape, and can sometimes make designs bulkier and less flexible. Now, zipper company YKK is releasing its new AiryString zipper, which is absent of tape and instead sewn into the fabric using a special machine.

“By eliminating the zipper tapes, the AiryString zipper offers more flexibility and weight reduction of the final product, in turn allowing for more design possibilities,” the YKK website says.

While........

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