Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers • Hacker News Board

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#41

Post by exhilaration » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 4:40 PM UTC

ndespres wrote: post #14

"YKK isn’t the kind of brand that markets to consumers. (Or seeks any kind of publicity: They declined to speak to me for this story.) You don’t buy your jeans and jackets by looking for their letters on that pull. Likewise, you almost certainly wouldn’t nix a garment purchase because the zipper isn’t YKK." I guess I'm an exception here. If I want to wear a garment more than a few times I always check to make sure th…

Unfortunately the skimpers are one step ahead of you: "Counterfeit YKK zippers are flooding the world market and undermining consumer confidence in your products." [1]

[1] http://www.ykk-usa.com/menu/faq/counterfeit1.html

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#42

Post by seanp2k2 » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 4:45 PM UTC

exhilaration wrote: post #41

ndespres wrote: post #14

"YKK isn’t the kind of brand that markets to consumers. (Or seeks any kind of publicity: They declined to speak to me for this story.) You don’t buy your jeans and jackets by looking for their letters on that pull. Likewise, you almost certainly wouldn’t nix a garment purchase because the zipper isn’t YKK." I guess I'm an exception here. If I want to wear a garment more than a few times I always check to make sure th…

Unfortunately the skimpers are one step ahead of you: "Counterfeit YKK zippers are flooding the world market and undermining consumer confidence in your products." [1] [1] http://www.ykk-usa.com/menu/faq/counterfeit1.html

Yeah, but you can pretty much always tell by actually trying it a few times. It's easy to stamp those letters in, but very hard to nail the quality.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#43

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 4:55 PM UTC

lordbusiness wrote: post #39

I really wish I understood all the fuss about YKK zippers. I first heard the word on the street about YKK being amazing many years ago, perhaps 20 years ago, in a similar article. Then I see plenty of support for this, but my own personal experiences are that YKK are average to middling at best. YKK may have once been the best, but this is certainly no longer true. All I can assume is that this is the most successful…

[deleted]

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#44

Post by kazinator » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 5:01 PM UTC

exhilaration wrote: post #41

ndespres wrote: post #14

"YKK isn’t the kind of brand that markets to consumers. (Or seeks any kind of publicity: They declined to speak to me for this story.) You don’t buy your jeans and jackets by looking for their letters on that pull. Likewise, you almost certainly wouldn’t nix a garment purchase because the zipper isn’t YKK." I guess I'm an exception here. If I want to wear a garment more than a few times I always check to make sure th…

Unfortunately the skimpers are one step ahead of you: "Counterfeit YKK zippers are flooding the world market and undermining consumer confidence in your products." [1] [1] http://www.ykk-usa.com/menu/faq/counterfeit1.html

It's their own fault. According to Wikipedia, "YKK has manufacturing facilities in 71 countries". If you spread you know-how all over the world in search of better margins, of course that creates copycat spin offs based on the same people and equipment.

Anyway, it could be just a lie. Any time a genuine overseas YKK factory puts out crap, they could just dump it on the market with the YKK boss' approval. Then spin a story about how it is counterfeit so as to try to protect the brand.

Maybe the only good YKK zipper is one that is actually made in Japan using the mythical 100 year old zipper-making machines.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#45

Post by markrages » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 5:13 PM UTC

jeangenie wrote: post #33

izolate wrote: post #29

I've started buying zipper-less equipment. It's less prone to error, and feels a bit more rustic. Definitely more fun to use. Examples: I only buy jeans with buttons. My Fjallraven backpack has metal hooks instead of a zipper.

Anecdotally, switching to a button-fly rather than zipper led to a dramatic decrease in me walking about with my fly open.

"feels a bit more rustic."

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#46

Post by serve_yay » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 5:57 PM UTC

Very cool that they've brought so much in-house. I'm not quite sure why I like companies that do that, but I do. I guess it speaks to a certain seriousness about the product beyond just making money off of it, or something. And there is something oddly satisfying about a good zipper.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#47

Post by driverdan » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 5:57 PM UTC

So who makes zippers that are better than YKK? There must be smaller manufacturers with higher prices and higher quality.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#48

Post by freehunter » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 6:14 PM UTC

lordbusiness wrote: post #39

I really wish I understood all the fuss about YKK zippers. I first heard the word on the street about YKK being amazing many years ago, perhaps 20 years ago, in a similar article. Then I see plenty of support for this, but my own personal experiences are that YKK are average to middling at best. YKK may have once been the best, but this is certainly no longer true. All I can assume is that this is the most successful…

So what's a better zipper and on what clothing brands can I find them on?

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#49

Post by CapitalistCartr » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 6:16 PM UTC

"The zipper is one of those inventions—along with the bicycle—that seems as though it should have occurred much earlier in history. How complicated could it be to assemble two wheels, two pedals, and a chain? Or to align two jagged strips of metal teeth and shuffle them together?"

Only to someone ignorant of history. They both required cheap, mass-produced steel and machines to mass produce identical products out of that steel. The advantages of the industrial revolution. To make them earlier would have been ridiculously expensive.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#50

Post by at-fates-hands » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 6:24 PM UTC

ndespres wrote: post #14

"YKK isn’t the kind of brand that markets to consumers. (Or seeks any kind of publicity: They declined to speak to me for this story.) You don’t buy your jeans and jackets by looking for their letters on that pull. Likewise, you almost certainly wouldn’t nix a garment purchase because the zipper isn’t YKK." I guess I'm an exception here. If I want to wear a garment more than a few times I always check to make sure th…

>>>> If I want to wear a garment more than a few times I always check to make sure the zippers are YKK.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who does this. Can't tell you how many times I try on a hoodie or a pair of pants and the zipper is completely dodgy.

I come to the same conclusion. If you just skimped on the most important of my trousers, I'm assuming you believe the material is going to last very long either.