Who invented the zipper first

The Universal Fastener Company enjoyed some early sales, but business was slow. Judson knew the product still needed work. Gideon Sundback was hired to address the problem.

Gideon Sundback was born in Sweden in and finished his electrical engineering studies in Germany before emigrating to the United States in His first job was at Westinghouse Electric Company. About a year later, he received an offer from Whitcomb Judson. His first development is known as the Plako fastener. The Plako fastener operated with the closure guide carefully moving up the tracking loop through the hooks and eyes that were attached to cotton twill tape on either side.

With the patent, Sundback improved many of the flaws that had bothered them all. Sundback also invented a machine that could make the separate strips with teeth. The first factory was built in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, just west of Niagara Falls. The U. In , the Navy ordered 10, hookless fasteners for their flight suits. Other parts of the military experimented with them on life vests and money belts.

But just as Whitcomb Judson knew when he began tinkering with creating the fastener, they could be a huge help if used on shoes and boots. In the early s, a designer at B. Goodrich saw the possibilities. He realized that if rubber boots could be closed in this way, it would reduce the amount of water that seeped in—a problem they had with other types of closures.

Soon after this success, the zipper was added to clothing of various types. Elsa Schiaparelli was said to be the first designer to use zippers in her clothing. Designers accelerated the success of zippers with even more materials, such as plastic zippers, which are soft, pliable and easy to maintain.

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