April 29 is Zipper Day #ZipperDay and in our Homeschool Home Economics Course this week Charlie is going to study zippers and try to put a zipper in a bag we will be making. In the meantime I have a question for you. Do you prefer buttons or zippers and why? My family prefers zippers because there easier to use for us.
We are full of zip for this Zipper Day! Aren’t you? People take many things in life for granted and of course the zipper is one of the things we take for grant. I have a question for you. Have you ever taken the time to reflect on zippers and how much we use them in our lives each and every day? I haven’t and neither have Charlie or David. That changes today.
While the first occurrence of National Zipper Day remains uncertain, there is quite an extensive history behind zippers that has a whole day dedicated to it. It is believed that Elias Howe may have invented the first zipper and got a patent for what he called the “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure” in the 1800s. However, neither did Elias Howe market his product nor did he get any recognition for it.
In that same period, a “clasp locker” was introduced at the Chicago World’s Fair to fasten shoes. While it somewhat resembled Howe’s creation, it wasn’t the same and lost steam quickly. However, the company that manufactured it, the Universal Fastener Company, continued to be fully operational nonetheless.
A Swedish-American electrical engineer employed at Universal Fastener, Gideon Sundback, is credited with designing the modern zipper. Gideon Sundback got the first patent for a “Hookless Fastener” on April 29, 1913, which was later developed into the “Separable Fastener”. It took a while to become popular as it was mostly a shoe fastener in the beginning after which the military started using the device during World War 1 for flying suits. Some manufacturers even used the device on tobacco pouches. Nevertheless, it was precisely a decade after this device received its first patent, that it would actually be called the ‘zipper’. The term was coined by B.F. Goodrich in 1923 because of the sound it made.
NATIONAL ZIPPER DAY ACTIVITIES
- Share your knowledge or fun facts about the zipper using the hashtag #NationalZipperDay.
- On National Zipper Day, what better way to celebrate than to wear only clothes that have zippers?
- Why not indulge in a little DIY activity and sew a zipper onto a clothing item.
ZIPPERS THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW
- Every year, there are so many zippers produced, that they can wrap the world 50 times!
- Zippers have been around for over a Century, a little more than 128 years.
- In the United States, approximately 4.5 billion zippers are used every year.
- Believe it or not, it is estimated that the global market for zippers is over $11 billion a year.
- Approximately 46% of the zippers used in the world today are made by the Japanese zipper manufacturer YKK.
WHY PEOPLE LOVE NATIONAL ZIPPER DAY
- Have you ever thought that without zippers we’d be spending minutes using hooks, clasps, laces, buttons, etc. to fasten our clothing? The invention of zippers has definitely made our lives easier.
- You can use this day to show off your funky and quirky zippers in clothing and appreciate this invention.
- National Zipper Day reminds us of the functionality of the zipper. Plastic zippers, especially, are wind, dust, and waterproof. Moreover, they don’t snag, stick, or rust.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
