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The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

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Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#91

Post by whycome »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #78

I don't like "submarine" PR articles like this, because I feel like the author didn't ask any of the obvious questions around this zipper: 1. No closeup pics of how the zipper is actually sewed onto fabrics. 2. Is this design more likely to tear fabrics than a traditional zipper? A video another commenter linked made it look more fragile to me, but I don't know. 3. The biggest issue with any zipper is snags. This des…

Agreed

> Its dominance comes from an unusual level of control: YKK manufactures its own machines, designs its own molds, and even spins its own thread. That self-sufficiency lets it experiment in ways competitors can’t, turning a mundane component into a field for continuous innovation.

I thought the point was that there hasn’t been any innovation??

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#92

Post by opan »

empiricus wrote: post #54

tangent: all my pants have zipper pockets. after almost losing my phone in a taxi in dubai a long time ago, I always get pants with zippers, even though I do not always close them...

I similarly had an issue with stuff falling out of my pockets which made me get pants with zipper pockets. In the end I was disappointed. I had some pants and shorts from Fjallraven and the zippers on the pockets all failed in under a year from what I recall. I ended up switching to all Duluth Trading Co. pants/shorts. These do NOT have zipper pockets, but they DID solve my problem, somehow. The pockets are deeper and perhaps a better shape. I've hung upside down in an inversion table, pockets stuffed full with what some would call an excessive EDC, and nothing falls out.

I would say avoid excercise-y pants/shorts and pajama pants, they have particularly bad pockets. That alone helped me quite a bit. I went from more lounge-y wear to dressing like a tradesman on the average day. The Duluth Trading pants are a lot more comfortable than any blue jeans I've worn before, as well as more durable and with more pockets. I have seen some other brands with similar design but can't recall the names. I just know I got some pair from Menard's or Fleet Farm once as a gift and the pocket layout was surprisingly identical to my Duluth Trading pants. I didn't like them as much, but I don't remember any specific major flaws either. Mostly including that tidbit to sound less like an ad for DT.

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#93

Post by jusssi »

stavros wrote: post #88
testdelacc1 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have t-shirts from 2010 which are faded but have 0 holes. Whereas t-shirts I bought half a year ago have holes in them. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Survivor...

Why the downvotes? This comment is pretty spot on.

I've never had a shirt fall apart so bad it didn't make it back home.

I know, probably the parties I go to are just that boring.

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#95

Post by stavros »

jusssi wrote: post #93
stavros wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the downvotes? This comment is pretty spot on.

I've never had a shirt fall apart so bad it didn't make it back home. I know, probably the parties I go to are just that boring.

The comment means "you throw away the shirts with holes, so obviously any shirt you have from 2010 has no holes". Unless every single new shirt the GP has has holes in it (which they don't), we can't draw any conclusions from this, except "some shirts from any year last a long time and some don't".

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#96

Post by Marsymars »

dingnuts wrote: post #82
Danieru wrote: post #25

This is a big deal for YKK. Until a few years ago they had a hold on the upper end of the market. The chinese competitor's quality was unreliable enough that clothing manufacturers were willing to pay a premium to ensure a failed zipper does not trash a garment. That situation has been changing, and chinese companies are offering zippers which are getting used on progressively higher end products. By releasing a new…

why would China respect a Japanese patent?

They may not, but you can't really sell patent-violating products at scale in patent-respecting countries without opening yourself up to lawsuits.

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#97

Post by olejorgenb »

olejorgenb wrote: post #52
thunderbong wrote: post #46

A close-up video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tWdVvDEol5Q

Published 4 years ago, yet it show this new product unless I'm mistaken.

> Early adopters are already experimenting. Descente Japan, known for technical sportswear, was among the first to prototype AiryString in 2022

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#98

Post by dan-robertson »

This feels to me like the right place to be trying to innovate. Zippers tend to be pretty good for the most technical clothing (and some other cases that demand textiles). In ordinary settings, I find more and more that I prefer pullovers, buttons, or other traditional fastening/closure mechanisms.

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#99

Post by [deleted] »

emptybits wrote: post #30

"Major Upgrade" for the fast, disposable fashion crowd. Major downgrade for maintainability and ability to repair. This "upgraded" zipper will be impossible to replace if broken at home, by hand or with a machine, or even at a typical professional repair shop. YKK documents say a "dedicated AiryString® sewing machine" is required.[1] [1] https://ykkdigitalshowroom.com/assets/AiryString_202507_en.p...

[deleted]

Re: The zipper is getting its first major upgrade in 100 years

#100

Post by mmooss »

dingnuts wrote: post #82
Danieru wrote: post #25

This is a big deal for YKK. Until a few years ago they had a hold on the upper end of the market. The chinese competitor's quality was unreliable enough that clothing manufacturers were willing to pay a premium to ensure a failed zipper does not trash a garment. That situation has been changing, and chinese companies are offering zippers which are getting used on progressively higher end products. By releasing a new…

why would China respect a Japanese patent?

They want Japan to respect Chinese patents, and they want to benefit from trade with Japan.
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