Zip it: History of the modern zipper

Since I’m wearing a fairly simple sweater with just that one diagonal zip detail that makes it worthy of an outfit post, I figured, hey, why don’t I do some light reading about the history of the zipper? It’s always there, we see it everyday, but we pay no mind to it except maybe when it gives us the occasional can’t-get-my-fly-up dilemma. It seems like a very mundane topic to dig into, but this boring little thing has revolutionized the way we wear clothes since its inception. Check out an easy-to-digest timeline of the modern zipper’s journey!

Elias Howe patented the predecessor of the modern zipper and called it an automatic, continuous clothing closure. Nothing came of it though because Howe was too busy marketing the sewing machine, another revolutionary item he invented.

Whitcomb Judson improved on Howe’s idea and came up with what he called a clasp locker to be used on shoes. It debuted at the World's Fair in Chicago that year with little commercial success.

Gideon Sundback, a worker at Judson’s Universal Fastener Company, came up with the zipper design that we know today. It was originally called the separable fastener.

B.F. Goodrich called the device a “zipper” when it used Sundback’s design on one of its boots, and the name stuck. Zippers were mainly used on shoes back then, and it took some time until clothing manufacturers were able to integrate the technology into garments.

I’m happy they eventually figured it out, otherwise trousers would take a lot more time to put on every morning.

Our weekly installment of Fashion Chameleon, a men’s fashion and lifestyle blog written by Jim Joquico the founder of La Moda Dubai. Read previous posts here .