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 design looks like it would be a lot more likely to snag, but maybe not.
4. As other commenters mentioned, can it be repaired without special equipment?
I'm not saying this design is good or bad, just that this puff piece article didn't ask any of the immediate questions I had.
Nitpicking here, but this is not a submarine article. This is above the waves, straight-ahead, overt PR.
It’s a standard product launch article. The news is: Company Announced Product. The article is: what the company says about the product. There’s not much more to report than that, yet. Once the product actually hits shelves there can be more articles with real world tests, breakdowns, close-ups, etc.
The reality is that YKK does not actually know if the new zipper will cause more tears, snag easier, be harder to repair, etc. No one will know until the product actually comes into extended contact with the real world.
"The biggest issue with any zipper is snags. This design looks like it would be a lot more likely to snag, but maybe not."
I can't see this new design solving that problem. Of all the day-to-day inanimate objects I've encountered I'd single out zippers as the most problematic I've come across. I cannot think of another device I've had so much trouble with.
They snag, jam, the teeth fall out or tear out with little provocation, they come 'unraveled' at the ends and cannot be easily fixed. Fly zippers have even caused me injury, and when used on sleeping bags and like they catch the fabric and either damage it or break in the process of untangling them. And if that's not enough, the metal parts of zippers corrode in washing detergents and stain removers—often to the extent that it's a significant cause of zipper failures.
Moreover, zippers are much more difficult to replace than buttons—I can replace a button on a shirt or fly in a minute or two but replacing a zipper is a major undertaking especially if one is not expert with a sewing machine.
Zippers on jackets are often the worst, I've an ex NATO military jacket that's tough and hard wearing and extremely well made that I'd never be without in winter but its YKK zipper gives me no end of trouble. And recently I've scrapped two perfectly good high-visibility jackets because zipper teeth have pulled out and in both instances the zippers weren't subject to abuse (these zippers weren't YKK brand).
Give me buttons any day.
PS: my other peeve is Velcro on clothing. I dare not mention the tortures that ought to be inflicted on the person who came up with that abomination of an idea.
> 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??
The biggest issue with zippers is durability. I’ve had dozens of broken zippers over my lifetime on clothing that was far from end of life.
If I could pay $20 extra dollars for a piece of clothing with a twice as durable zipper I’d do it. I’m pretty sure zippers cost a dime so that’s a good margin.
"If I could pay $20 extra dollars for a piece of clothing with a twice as durable zipper I’d do it."
Agreed, the biggest issue is durability, like you I've had many broken zippers which often seem to break at the most inconvenient time, embarrassing experiences such as having to secure my fly with bent paperclips pushed through the fabric come to mind.
But I think there's more to it than just durability as there are some basic design issues that are hard to overcome. For instance, if a tooth gets pulled out or it does not mesh properly with its opposite mate then all will unravel (and that happens surprising often). It only takes one missing tooth or the first teeth to be not properly anchored for the whole zipper to fail. Cascading failures don't happen with buttons (one missing isn't much of a problem).
> That incremental progress mirrors YKK’s founding philosophy, the “Cycle of Goodness.” The principle—that no one prospers without benefiting others—has supposedly guided the company for decades. It’s visible in its other micro-improvements: corrosion-resistant alloys, sound-dampened sliders, recyclable polyester tapes. AiryString continues that tradition, shrinking the zipper’s physical and environmental footprint at once.
This is alien to SF AI startups and patent trolls.
Having your customers suddenly require proprietary machinery (only sold/licensed by you) to unlock the full potential of your upgraded product line.. does seem compatible with the SF startup way of thinking.
The SF approach would be to lock down every aspect of the new zippers with as much proprietary BS as possible for as long as possible, charging high fees the whole time and quite likely causing relatively poor market penetration. Relatively few people will pay $50 extra for a thinner zipper on a typical jacket. To combat this, one SF approach might be to pump out ads and branding to to make the new zipper a status symbol.
e.g. Will we start to see fashion designers paid to highlight the new zippers on their products rather than hiding them behind flaps or in folds? Are Brando biker jackets about to trend again?
On the other hand, YKK might simply do what they've been doing for the last century: Obliterate the competition by doing what they do better and cheaper. This is how they took the market from manufacturer's like Talon. They might maintain control of their new zipper tech with patents, etc., but they might also make the tooling affordable and try to maximize uptake by manufacturers.
I have a vintage reproduction of a 1920's cafe racer with a Talon zipper on it. That thing needs to be babied. Zip it up wrong and the slide will bend, teeth will stop engaging, etc.. If you want a jacket that you'll think twice about zipping up (e.g. "Am I really so cold it's worth it?"), get something with a vintage Talon zipper. The first thing that stood out to me as a falsehood in this article was the claim that this is the first upgrade to the zipper in a century. YKK has been quietly making them better and better that whole time.
yes, and the fact that the article brushes over this and is so breathless -- it's an ad, right?
My first question was: if they remove the tape, how do you affix it to the garment? and you're right, the article glides over the fact that this company, which is largely a monopoly, is creating garments that will apparently require a proprietary device to repair.
It's like a Juicero ad, but for your fly. I'm good.
But its not anything like a Juicero ad is it? They are not halting production on all other zippers or charging you a monthly zipper refill fee… but adding a new product line with more and different possible uses. An innovative new design for a product most don’t think twice about. It’s pretty cool, really.
not a productive comment. The web is made and run by myriad of frameworks, that were developed open source by startups, or folks that worked in tech that wanted to improve things bit by bit and wanted to share to the community.
Tech in general is the much more open industry compared to any other (cars, biotech, etc), and it is uniquely where closed sourced frameworks have a har time to succeed.
None of them will be around for long, and if yes only by pure unintended accident.
But dont blame the participants, they fight for money in system setup for them. If people will reward clearly more moral businesses, over time even the most hardened sociopath will pick up the cues.
If you want to hate something, hate how uncaring an average person is, driven by simple, easy to manipulate emotions, not fighting primal urges even if they drive them off the cliff, or even caring more deeply about themselves, who they are and where they go.
Isn't it kind of the opposite? Taking a ethical stance is often superficially suboptimal at maximizing personal value. Obviously moral frameworks vary by culture, but commonly involve setting aside some amount of self interest.
The same is true of a business, primarily driven by the executives and carried out by rank and file.
"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]
Fabrics have gotten a lot thinner, and thus develop holes a lot more quickly.
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.
Also, you mentioning the inability to repair stuff at home makes me sad. My mom, 72 year old, repaired my nephew's jacket the other day. Brand new zipper.
The machine in that PDF you shared makes me feel YKK is going in the direction of Apple. They supply the parts and the manufacturing device.
You do something they don't like? Sewing machine turns off.
"All AiryString® part sales and leasing of dedicated sewing machines are conducted between YKK and the customer. YKK will also coordinate the installation and startup of sewing machines at garment manufacturing factories. For more information on leasing dedicated sewing machines, please contact your YKK representative"
> 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.
One of the little things I find most satisfying about getting old is hearing the same proclamations about quality going to shit today that I heard when I was much younger, only now the supposedly-good baseline of the comparison happened well after the complaints I grew up hearing. I, too, want everyone to get the hell off my lawn.
That seems consistent with a progressive slide towards lower quality. The products that were available when I was young where dramatically lower quality than those available to my parents but are dramatically higher quality than what is available now.
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".
The fix is easy:
Don’t buy new clothes from fast fashion brands or stores.
If you only buy quality from small stores and independent designers you still get the same quality you got 15 years ago. Sure it’s 2-3 times the price but it’s worth it.
I try to buy my clothes from shops that sell to the trades/safety gear (e.g. brands like "Hard Yakka", although I guess that brand probably doesn't exist outside of Australasia). Most of these shops do a good line of cargo pants/shorts.
But where does one get jeans that were made of the non-stretch denim that we use to get in the 1980s? That stuff was as thick as a tarpaulin (for those of us who are younger, tarpaulins used to be made of fabric, not plastic).
It remains to be seen if it can be repaired by hand. A special sewing machine is required, as opposed to using a regular sewing machine. The document you linked is about garment production, not repair.
How things get repaired is not up to the original company in most cases. People are inventive when they need to be.
Almost anything that can be sewn together by a machine can be sewn together by hand too. That said, sewing doesn’t do much for most zipper failures anyway, which are usually broken teeth or sliders.
> This "upgraded" zipper will be impossible to replace if broken at home, by hand or with a machine
It looks like they just replaced the tape with cord. I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to hand stitch it in, though it might need some temporary stitches to hold it in place.
>Major downgrade for maintainability and ability to repair.
But it seems the exact opposite is true. These zippers should be easily removable, leaving the fabric mostly intact. After that you can put in a normal zipper.
But you can just cut it off entirely, with minimal losses to the fabric, which is preferable to pulling out the seams, which will leave damaged fabric behind.
The excellent Avery Trufelman (formerly of 99% Invisible) has been running Articles of Interest (<https://www.articlesofinterest.co> and <https://articlesofinterest.substack.com>), a surprisingly interesting podcast about clothing and and culture and so much more. The Ivy League episodes are a great example of what they're about.
Anyone interested in zippers, or, more significantly for this website, how new technologies are invented, adopted, and mature, should read "Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty" by Robert D. Friedel [1]
YKK is kind of one of the heroes of the story. The zipper was pioneered by the U.S. company Talon Fastener, which was acquired and parted out in the 1970s. YKK bought the legacy machining for manufacturing zippers and went on to dominate the global market.
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 product with substantial changes and thus patentability they can buy a few decades at the top of the market. I suspect this technology has been in development for a long time, and held back until competitors were threatening the premium traditional zipper market.
YKK still has the advantage in that they are known for quality. I use YKK in my sewing because I can count on them being good. On the other hand, I don't know which Chinese manufactuers are reliable.
"Please be aware that when using AiryString® on fabrics with the following characteristics,
there are concerns that the zipper may come unstitched, roll into the slider, or not be strong enough.
◇ Fabrics with notably low slippage resistance
( woven fabrics: fabrics with low thread counts, knitted fabrics: fabrics with loose tension).
◇ Fabrics with low friction resistance
◇ Fabrics with large bumps
◇ Shaggy fabrics"
My first thought was "Arc'teryx will probably adopt this immediately." They (and similar brands) are already pushing as hard as they can on seamlessness or very very tight seams.
Doesn't Arc'teryx make outdoor gear? That's something where I absolutely would not buy a product that I couldn't repair in the field with a needle and thread.
Yes, Arcteryx makes outdoor gear, but more along the line of technical climbing and backcountry skiing, not backpacking. Not likely to carry a needle and thread to repair your 3L Goretex shell.
Of course the brand has been diluted to cater to a more mainstream buyer.
The upgrade I want is a two way zipper that actually works well. Current two way zippers suck, so most jacket manufacturers have abandoned them completely.
Honestly dont see the point of this "upgrade". Normal zippers work fine.
It looks like there is a core cord inside the zipper teeth. The specialized sewing machine stitches the cord to the fabric in between each teeth... tooth?
The pdf linked in other threads shows that the teeth have a fabric cord running through the middle of them. Then each tooth is surrounded by about 18 tiny stitches.
“The absence of the tape posed various production challenges,” Nishizaki says. “We had to develop new manufacturing equipment and a dedicated sewing machine for integration.”
It's not worse; it's different, and better for some applications. Specifically when high flexibility and/or sleek appearance are valued above cost and durability. One example that immediately comes to mind is zip-up pockets in athletic wear.
> Their new AiryString zipper looks ordinary at first glance. Then you realize what’s missing: there’s no tape. That absence transforms everything. Without the woven fabric that normally flanks the teeth, the AiryString is lighter, sleeker, and far more flexible.
"Without them, YKK had to rethink every step of production
The teeth were redesigned, the manufacturing process rewritten, and new machinery developed to attach the closure to garments. “The absence of the tape posed various production challenges,” Nishizaki says."
Redesigned to attach to the fabric in a different way, I think.
Usually the teeth are attached somehow to the fabric strip. I think the strip has a ridge at the edge where the teeth go, and the teeth are clamped over that ridge to hold them in place. Then the fabric strip is easy to sew onto a garment. It looks like the new design has only the ridge, hence it's called a string, and is hard to sew onto a garment.
Apparently no tape, the zipper is bare, so special sewing machines are required and you plebs cannot just repair your clothes affordably (or yourself) anymore.
Funny enough they mention that this new zipper cuts emisions but at the same time requires another (propietary) machine to sew them into clothing... are net emmisions actually going to be diminished?
I wonder if you could do repairs by hand stitching. Presumably the special machine does a special stitch which is lined up exactly with the teeth. A regular machine can't do that, but I bet a skilled human could.
You'd need a way to hold the zipper teeth and the fabric in place while you stitch. Maybe temporary tape or some special-purpose jig thing.
I had at least z dozen zippers replaced through my life. Some times you a very good product with poorly chosen zipper, some times it is some sort of an accident.
I find the idea of buying a new coat instead of fixing a small part of the old one weird.
I'm in my 40s and don't think I've ever replaced a zipper. I'm sure a handful have broken over my lifetime, but never on something nice enough to be worth repairing. I wouldn't buy clothing based on the possibility of this (to me) extreme edge case.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and at least here in this so-called "third world" country plenty of people makes their clothing to be repaired in any way or do it themselves (even me, sometimes)
You can. You’d just attach a fabric tape zipper and the clothes would stop being as flexible. So you get the best of both worlds: a fancy zipper to start with that delivers increased performance and then you remove the performance and have an old zipper placed in there.
You just get an extra semi rigid fabric track when you repair. Your clothes should still work.
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.
Good question. They have a new Juki machine to sew these on directly, but I can't tell whether it will be practical to sew on by hand. I expect most tailor and seamstress shops won't be taking our loans to buy machines just to sew these new zippers in one size.
> When asked what zippers might look like in 50 years, Nishizaki doesn’t talk about smart fabrics or AI-assisted closures. He returns to YKK’s mantra: “Little parts. Big difference.”
AI-assisted closures? I'm struggling to imagine a use case. Surely this is humor...
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.
So, uh, how is it attached to the garment? They talk about specialized sewing equipment, so it’s not bonded (although for polymer-based outerwear solvent bonding seems like the ultimate end-point)… but there’s no thru-holes or other obvious attachment points. Something boring but hidden (hole from the side to the bottom), or something more interesting?
There does appear to be a connecting strand between the teeth, and the article indicates you need a specialized sewing machine. They must sew it, but repairable is probably impacted.
With stuff like this, technical fabrics that manufacturers refuse to sell to anyone other than businesses, and Joann's going out of business, it almost feels like there's a push to prevent individuals from making or repairing their own clothes.
I don't necessarily think it's a conspiracy, but it does feel like the logical extension of late stage capitalism's love of planned obsolescence, vendor lock in, etc.
Looks very cool, but absolutely laughable that they tried to sell an environmental angle. I don't say that because it's "actually the opposite" or anything like that - the impact either way will be fuck all.
In the grand scheme of textiles, which actually are a major source of environmental harm, it’s probably the choice of textile that would impact emissions the most. Cotton is one of the most water hungry crops we grow and resulted in the drying up of the Aral Sea; animal products have all the emissions associated with animal farming; and synthetics are generally petroleum based.
Hemp or linen probably. Cotton recycling is also better than new cotton. But for clothes the heavy emphasis is on "reduce" and "reuse" which is why fast fashion is so insidious.
One major problem that has arisen recently is that a lot of clothes now are cotton blends which cannot easily be recycled.
Average startup team replaced all zippers and buttons with experimental fasteners three sprints ago, because a tech that doesn’t get quarterly upgrades is clearly obsolete
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 design looks like it would be a lot more likely to snag, but maybe not.
4. As other commenters mentioned, can it be repaired without special equipment?
I'm not saying this design is good or bad, just that this puff piece article didn't ask any of the immediate questions I had.
Nitpicking here, but this is not a submarine article. This is above the waves, straight-ahead, overt PR.
It’s a standard product launch article. The news is: Company Announced Product. The article is: what the company says about the product. There’s not much more to report than that, yet. Once the product actually hits shelves there can be more articles with real world tests, breakdowns, close-ups, etc.
The reality is that YKK does not actually know if the new zipper will cause more tears, snag easier, be harder to repair, etc. No one will know until the product actually comes into extended contact with the real world.
"The biggest issue with any zipper is snags. This design looks like it would be a lot more likely to snag, but maybe not."
I can't see this new design solving that problem. Of all the day-to-day inanimate objects I've encountered I'd single out zippers as the most problematic I've come across. I cannot think of another device I've had so much trouble with.
They snag, jam, the teeth fall out or tear out with little provocation, they come 'unraveled' at the ends and cannot be easily fixed. Fly zippers have even caused me injury, and when used on sleeping bags and like they catch the fabric and either damage it or break in the process of untangling them. And if that's not enough, the metal parts of zippers corrode in washing detergents and stain removers—often to the extent that it's a significant cause of zipper failures.
Moreover, zippers are much more difficult to replace than buttons—I can replace a button on a shirt or fly in a minute or two but replacing a zipper is a major undertaking especially if one is not expert with a sewing machine.
Zippers on jackets are often the worst, I've an ex NATO military jacket that's tough and hard wearing and extremely well made that I'd never be without in winter but its YKK zipper gives me no end of trouble. And recently I've scrapped two perfectly good high-visibility jackets because zipper teeth have pulled out and in both instances the zippers weren't subject to abuse (these zippers weren't YKK brand).
Give me buttons any day.
PS: my other peeve is Velcro on clothing. I dare not mention the tortures that ought to be inflicted on the person who came up with that abomination of an idea.
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??
The biggest issue with zippers is durability. I’ve had dozens of broken zippers over my lifetime on clothing that was far from end of life. If I could pay $20 extra dollars for a piece of clothing with a twice as durable zipper I’d do it. I’m pretty sure zippers cost a dime so that’s a good margin.
"If I could pay $20 extra dollars for a piece of clothing with a twice as durable zipper I’d do it."
Agreed, the biggest issue is durability, like you I've had many broken zippers which often seem to break at the most inconvenient time, embarrassing experiences such as having to secure my fly with bent paperclips pushed through the fabric come to mind.
But I think there's more to it than just durability as there are some basic design issues that are hard to overcome. For instance, if a tooth gets pulled out or it does not mesh properly with its opposite mate then all will unravel (and that happens surprising often). It only takes one missing tooth or the first teeth to be not properly anchored for the whole zipper to fail. Cascading failures don't happen with buttons (one missing isn't much of a problem).
> That incremental progress mirrors YKK’s founding philosophy, the “Cycle of Goodness.” The principle—that no one prospers without benefiting others—has supposedly guided the company for decades. It’s visible in its other micro-improvements: corrosion-resistant alloys, sound-dampened sliders, recyclable polyester tapes. AiryString continues that tradition, shrinking the zipper’s physical and environmental footprint at once.
This is alien to SF AI startups and patent trolls.
Having your customers suddenly require proprietary machinery (only sold/licensed by you) to unlock the full potential of your upgraded product line.. does seem compatible with the SF startup way of thinking.
It will be interesting to see what they do next.
The SF approach would be to lock down every aspect of the new zippers with as much proprietary BS as possible for as long as possible, charging high fees the whole time and quite likely causing relatively poor market penetration. Relatively few people will pay $50 extra for a thinner zipper on a typical jacket. To combat this, one SF approach might be to pump out ads and branding to to make the new zipper a status symbol.
e.g. Will we start to see fashion designers paid to highlight the new zippers on their products rather than hiding them behind flaps or in folds? Are Brando biker jackets about to trend again?
On the other hand, YKK might simply do what they've been doing for the last century: Obliterate the competition by doing what they do better and cheaper. This is how they took the market from manufacturer's like Talon. They might maintain control of their new zipper tech with patents, etc., but they might also make the tooling affordable and try to maximize uptake by manufacturers.
I have a vintage reproduction of a 1920's cafe racer with a Talon zipper on it. That thing needs to be babied. Zip it up wrong and the slide will bend, teeth will stop engaging, etc.. If you want a jacket that you'll think twice about zipping up (e.g. "Am I really so cold it's worth it?"), get something with a vintage Talon zipper. The first thing that stood out to me as a falsehood in this article was the claim that this is the first upgrade to the zipper in a century. YKK has been quietly making them better and better that whole time.
They surely learned something from Microsoft.
yes, and the fact that the article brushes over this and is so breathless -- it's an ad, right?
My first question was: if they remove the tape, how do you affix it to the garment? and you're right, the article glides over the fact that this company, which is largely a monopoly, is creating garments that will apparently require a proprietary device to repair.
It's like a Juicero ad, but for your fly. I'm good.
But its not anything like a Juicero ad is it? They are not halting production on all other zippers or charging you a monthly zipper refill fee… but adding a new product line with more and different possible uses. An innovative new design for a product most don’t think twice about. It’s pretty cool, really.
not a productive comment. The web is made and run by myriad of frameworks, that were developed open source by startups, or folks that worked in tech that wanted to improve things bit by bit and wanted to share to the community.
Tech in general is the much more open industry compared to any other (cars, biotech, etc), and it is uniquely where closed sourced frameworks have a har time to succeed.
None of them will be around for long, and if yes only by pure unintended accident.
But dont blame the participants, they fight for money in system setup for them. If people will reward clearly more moral businesses, over time even the most hardened sociopath will pick up the cues.
If you want to hate something, hate how uncaring an average person is, driven by simple, easy to manipulate emotions, not fighting primal urges even if they drive them off the cliff, or even caring more deeply about themselves, who they are and where they go.
Isn't it kind of the opposite? Taking a ethical stance is often superficially suboptimal at maximizing personal value. Obviously moral frameworks vary by culture, but commonly involve setting aside some amount of self interest.
The same is true of a business, primarily driven by the executives and carried out by rank and file.
"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...
Fabrics have gotten a lot thinner, and thus develop holes a lot more quickly.
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.
Also, you mentioning the inability to repair stuff at home makes me sad. My mom, 72 year old, repaired my nephew's jacket the other day. Brand new zipper.
The machine in that PDF you shared makes me feel YKK is going in the direction of Apple. They supply the parts and the manufacturing device.
You do something they don't like? Sewing machine turns off.
Yes. Also at the above link:
"All AiryString® part sales and leasing of dedicated sewing machines are conducted between YKK and the customer. YKK will also coordinate the installation and startup of sewing machines at garment manufacturing factories. For more information on leasing dedicated sewing machines, please contact your YKK representative"
> 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.
One of the little things I find most satisfying about getting old is hearing the same proclamations about quality going to shit today that I heard when I was much younger, only now the supposedly-good baseline of the comparison happened well after the complaints I grew up hearing. I, too, want everyone to get the hell off my lawn.
That seems consistent with a progressive slide towards lower quality. The products that were available when I was young where dramatically lower quality than those available to my parents but are dramatically higher quality than what is available now.
> 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.
There is no comment, just a link to an image file.
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".
The fix is easy: Don’t buy new clothes from fast fashion brands or stores.
If you only buy quality from small stores and independent designers you still get the same quality you got 15 years ago. Sure it’s 2-3 times the price but it’s worth it.
I don’t know if it’s that easy.
I have a few favourites t-shirts I rotate around. My H&M Iron Maiden t-shirt for $20 has surpassed much more expensive t-shirts by a long shot.
It also helps to avoid synthetic fabrics in my experience.
But you are right it’s not that easy…
I try to buy my clothes from shops that sell to the trades/safety gear (e.g. brands like "Hard Yakka", although I guess that brand probably doesn't exist outside of Australasia). Most of these shops do a good line of cargo pants/shorts.
But where does one get jeans that were made of the non-stretch denim that we use to get in the 1980s? That stuff was as thick as a tarpaulin (for those of us who are younger, tarpaulins used to be made of fabric, not plastic).
It remains to be seen if it can be repaired by hand. A special sewing machine is required, as opposed to using a regular sewing machine. The document you linked is about garment production, not repair.
How things get repaired is not up to the original company in most cases. People are inventive when they need to be.
Almost anything that can be sewn together by a machine can be sewn together by hand too. That said, sewing doesn’t do much for most zipper failures anyway, which are usually broken teeth or sliders.
> This "upgraded" zipper will be impossible to replace if broken at home, by hand or with a machine
It looks like they just replaced the tape with cord. I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to hand stitch it in, though it might need some temporary stitches to hold it in place.
It might be more challenging but I don't see why you couldn't also sew this by hand.
>Major downgrade for maintainability and ability to repair.
But it seems the exact opposite is true. These zippers should be easily removable, leaving the fabric mostly intact. After that you can put in a normal zipper.
This looks much harder to seam-rip to me, as the stitching is going between the individual zipper teeth.
But you can just cut it off entirely, with minimal losses to the fabric, which is preferable to pulling out the seams, which will leave damaged fabric behind.
Cutting it off is even easier since one side is fabric and the other side is metal (for which you can push against).
The excellent Avery Trufelman (formerly of 99% Invisible) has been running Articles of Interest (<https://www.articlesofinterest.co> and <https://articlesofinterest.substack.com>), a surprisingly interesting podcast about clothing and and culture and so much more. The Ivy League episodes are a great example of what they're about.
Over the summer, they had an episode about the zipper—<https://articlesofinterest.substack.com/p/new-episode-zipper...> and <https://www.articlesofinterest.co/podcast/episode/2b1f2292/z...>—which is well worth a listen.
Anyone interested in zippers, or, more significantly for this website, how new technologies are invented, adopted, and mature, should read "Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty" by Robert D. Friedel [1]
YKK is kind of one of the heroes of the story. The zipper was pioneered by the U.S. company Talon Fastener, which was acquired and parted out in the 1970s. YKK bought the legacy machining for manufacturing zippers and went on to dominate the global market.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Zipper-Exploration-Robert-D-Friedel/d...
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 product with substantial changes and thus patentability they can buy a few decades at the top of the market. I suspect this technology has been in development for a long time, and held back until competitors were threatening the premium traditional zipper market.
YKK still has the advantage in that they are known for quality. I use YKK in my sewing because I can count on them being good. On the other hand, I don't know which Chinese manufactuers are reliable.
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.
They want Japan to respect Chinese patents, and they want to benefit from trade with Japan.
They won’t, but clothing manufacturers will or they’ll be subject to Japanese lawsuits.
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
There is another one from two years ago with more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1JN9kR3EZw
"Please be aware that when using AiryString® on fabrics with the following characteristics, there are concerns that the zipper may come unstitched, roll into the slider, or not be strong enough. ◇ Fabrics with notably low slippage resistance ( woven fabrics: fabrics with low thread counts, knitted fabrics: fabrics with loose tension). ◇ Fabrics with low friction resistance ◇ Fabrics with large bumps ◇ Shaggy fabrics"
Seems like the target use case is Athleisure?
That would make sense.
My first thought was "Arc'teryx will probably adopt this immediately." They (and similar brands) are already pushing as hard as they can on seamlessness or very very tight seams.
Doesn't Arc'teryx make outdoor gear? That's something where I absolutely would not buy a product that I couldn't repair in the field with a needle and thread.
Yes, Arcteryx makes outdoor gear, but more along the line of technical climbing and backcountry skiing, not backpacking. Not likely to carry a needle and thread to repair your 3L Goretex shell.
Of course the brand has been diluted to cater to a more mainstream buyer.
Hm I think the tape also serves to stiffen and align the two sides; so it might have a downside
The upgrade I want is a two way zipper that actually works well. Current two way zippers suck, so most jacket manufacturers have abandoned them completely.
Honestly dont see the point of this "upgrade". Normal zippers work fine.
The water resistant zipper is not a 100 years old, and that was a huge upgrade.
I think the same is true of the self-healing zipper, but I can't find a source for when it was invented.
After reading the article I have no idea what is different in the new version.
PDF catalog for the AiryString has a lot more details and technical information.
https://ykkdigitalshowroom.com/assets/AiryString_202507_en.p...
It looks like there is a core cord inside the zipper teeth. The specialized sewing machine stitches the cord to the fabric in between each teeth... tooth?
What I can't figure out is how the new version attached to the fabric. That's at the core of this right? Metal-fabric interface.
The pdf linked in other threads shows that the teeth have a fabric cord running through the middle of them. Then each tooth is surrounded by about 18 tiny stitches.
https://imgur.com/a/o1jxAuS
I wonder how fabrics will handle the mechanical wear vs the durable tape “track” used in a traditional zipper
They won't. They only work with garments < 1.3mm. Nothing here is about durability.
“The absence of the tape posed various production challenges,” Nishizaki says. “We had to develop new manufacturing equipment and a dedicated sewing machine for integration.”
They found a worse way to create a worse zipper with a proprietary machine that no one owns . This is the future
It's not worse; it's different, and better for some applications. Specifically when high flexibility and/or sleek appearance are valued above cost and durability. One example that immediately comes to mind is zip-up pockets in athletic wear.
> Their new AiryString zipper looks ordinary at first glance. Then you realize what’s missing: there’s no tape. That absence transforms everything. Without the woven fabric that normally flanks the teeth, the AiryString is lighter, sleeker, and far more flexible.
That cloth strip the zipper is attached to so it can be sewn into the clothing is gone.
The fourth, and last, photo of zippers in the article shows the old and new versions side by side, making it easy to see what is different.
Here you go: https://imgur.com/a/FQGdSkg
Yes, so the zipper hasn't changed, just the way it is attached to the fabric.
No, from the article:
"Without them, YKK had to rethink every step of production
The teeth were redesigned, the manufacturing process rewritten, and new machinery developed to attach the closure to garments. “The absence of the tape posed various production challenges,” Nishizaki says."
From the Wired article: "The teeth were redesigned..."
Redesigned to attach to the fabric in a different way, I think.
Usually the teeth are attached somehow to the fabric strip. I think the strip has a ridge at the edge where the teeth go, and the teeth are clamped over that ridge to hold them in place. Then the fabric strip is easy to sew onto a garment. It looks like the new design has only the ridge, hence it's called a string, and is hard to sew onto a garment.
Apparently no tape, the zipper is bare, so special sewing machines are required and you plebs cannot just repair your clothes affordably (or yourself) anymore.
Funny enough they mention that this new zipper cuts emisions but at the same time requires another (propietary) machine to sew them into clothing... are net emmisions actually going to be diminished?
Not only that, but DIYers and alteration/repair will be out of luck too.
I wonder if you could do repairs by hand stitching. Presumably the special machine does a special stitch which is lined up exactly with the teeth. A regular machine can't do that, but I bet a skilled human could.
You'd need a way to hold the zipper teeth and the fabric in place while you stitch. Maybe temporary tape or some special-purpose jig thing.
All the other zippers will still exist. Clothes without zippers will still exist. Roughly nobody does this anyway.
>Roughly nobody does this anyway.
I had at least z dozen zippers replaced through my life. Some times you a very good product with poorly chosen zipper, some times it is some sort of an accident.
I find the idea of buying a new coat instead of fixing a small part of the old one weird.
I'm in my 40s and don't think I've ever replaced a zipper. I'm sure a handful have broken over my lifetime, but never on something nice enough to be worth repairing. I wouldn't buy clothing based on the possibility of this (to me) extreme edge case.
> nice enough to be worth repairing
I guess it's just cost of repair vs cost of garment. I always opt to spend $15 replacing the zipper than to buy another coat or whatnot.
That's $15 including new zipper and cost of labor?
Yes, but I live in a LCoL country.
This doesn't change that, I expect you can still remove this a zipper and have another sewn on, just as before
You can, but you (or rather atelier\studio) will have to buy a special machine to do so.
If these become commonplace, so will such machines.
> Roughly nobody does this anyway.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and at least here in this so-called "third world" country plenty of people makes their clothing to be repaired in any way or do it themselves (even me, sometimes)
You can. You’d just attach a fabric tape zipper and the clothes would stop being as flexible. So you get the best of both worlds: a fancy zipper to start with that delivers increased performance and then you remove the performance and have an old zipper placed in there.
You just get an extra semi rigid fabric track when you repair. Your clothes should still work.
Then you didn’t read the article. It’s spelled out pretty explicitly.
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.
Link to what the upgrade looks like https://ykkdigitalshowroom.com/en/item/143/
This one[1] shows how the teeth are sewn on, which does look like it would be hard to do by hand (and impossible with a normal sewing machine).
1: https://ykkdigitalshowroom.com/assets/80006b690a9e47db1e62ad...
Another view: https://imgur.com/a/FQGdSkg
How do you replace a broken zipper than?
Good question. They have a new Juki machine to sew these on directly, but I can't tell whether it will be practical to sew on by hand. I expect most tailor and seamstress shops won't be taking our loans to buy machines just to sew these new zippers in one size.
I expect the same way you do now
Right now zippers have a piece of fabric. You can sew it with any machine or even by hand.
This new one requires a special machine to sew it.
I bet it could be done by hand by an experienced hand
and turn a 5 minute task into a half-hour one.
Which is fine?
it makes a difference if the repair costs $5 or $25 and if it can be done on the spot, or if i have to wait until tomorrow.
$25 to repair a zipper in 1 day is pretty great, I would.be very happy with that
> When asked what zippers might look like in 50 years, Nishizaki doesn’t talk about smart fabrics or AI-assisted closures. He returns to YKK’s mantra: “Little parts. Big difference.”
AI-assisted closures? I'm struggling to imagine a use case. Surely this is humor...
I’d like to see a self-correcting zipper design.
Do you mean self-healing zippers? They've existed for years.
My Lindy alarm has gone off!
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.
Do you find it hard to buy new pants? I wish there was a search engine for clothes...
So, uh, how is it attached to the garment? They talk about specialized sewing equipment, so it’s not bonded (although for polymer-based outerwear solvent bonding seems like the ultimate end-point)… but there’s no thru-holes or other obvious attachment points. Something boring but hidden (hole from the side to the bottom), or something more interesting?
From the YKK Digital Showroom website:
> The AiryString® tapeless zipper is designed for elements to be sewn directly onto fabric by a special machine.
https://ykkdigitalshowroom.com/en/item/143/
There does appear to be a connecting strand between the teeth, and the article indicates you need a specialized sewing machine. They must sew it, but repairable is probably impacted.
Likely they will be heat welded to a polyethylene. You can sew this for extra strength. Which I think means a fully recyclable jacket!
With stuff like this, technical fabrics that manufacturers refuse to sell to anyone other than businesses, and Joann's going out of business, it almost feels like there's a push to prevent individuals from making or repairing their own clothes.
I don't necessarily think it's a conspiracy, but it does feel like the logical extension of late stage capitalism's love of planned obsolescence, vendor lock in, etc.
I despirately want off of this ride.
I skimmed the article and have no clue what they are calling revolutionary. It will fail.
Looks very cool, but absolutely laughable that they tried to sell an environmental angle. I don't say that because it's "actually the opposite" or anything like that - the impact either way will be fuck all.
In the grand scheme of textiles, which actually are a major source of environmental harm, it’s probably the choice of textile that would impact emissions the most. Cotton is one of the most water hungry crops we grow and resulted in the drying up of the Aral Sea; animal products have all the emissions associated with animal farming; and synthetics are generally petroleum based.
what's the best alternative to cotton?
Hemp or linen probably. Cotton recycling is also better than new cotton. But for clothes the heavy emphasis is on "reduce" and "reuse" which is why fast fashion is so insidious.
One major problem that has arisen recently is that a lot of clothes now are cotton blends which cannot easily be recycled.
Average startup team replaced all zippers and buttons with experimental fasteners three sprints ago, because a tech that doesn’t get quarterly upgrades is clearly obsolete
How I'd love to work in an environment like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBprQffr2g4