- The zipper was invented 1891 by Whitcomb L. Judson. The first version of the zipper without any major design flaws and essentially indistinguishable from modern zippers was developed in 1914 by Gideon Sundbäck, a Swedish-born engineer.
- It was estimated that the global market for zippers was approximately $11.7 billion in 2018.
- The YKK company accounts for 46 percent of the global zipper market.
- Every year, YKK produces enough zippers to wrap around the world 50 times. That’s 1.2 million miles of zippers!
- You can find YKK factories in in 71 countries.
- The YKK company makes zippers in 9,500 colors and has 20 shades of black in its color library.
- YKK makes airtight zippers for spacesuits, flame retardant zippers for fire suits, airtight zippers for bagpipes and zippers for fish farm nets. In fact, on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong took “one giant leap for man kind” as the first man on the moon, guess what zipper kept his suit on? You guessed it – YKK.
- The US consumed approximately 4.5 billion zippers of all kinds.
The Man In The Pink Hat 