APRIL 28: Zippers 

Profile America — Thursday, April 28th. Today is the 109th anniversary of an invention many — if not most — of us use every day without a second thought, but occasionally with a struggle. In April 1913, Hoboken, New Jersey, resident Gideon Sundback patented the zipper. He called his invention the “hookless fastener.” Improved and patented again in 1917 as the “separable fastener,” for many years the invention was used mainly on rubber boots. Such was the use by the B.F. Goodrich Company, which gave the fastener the now familiar name “zipper.” But in 1930, fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli became the first to display them on clothing. Manufacturing zippers and other clothing fasteners is a $1 billion a year business for some 100 establishments in America. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.

Sources:

Sundback and the zipper, accessed 8/31/2021

Development and naming, accessed 8/31/2021

Schiaparelli designs, accessed 8/31/2021

Clothes fastener manufacturing revenue, Annual Survey of Manufacturers, NAICS 39993

Clothes fastener manufacturing establishments, County Business Patterns, NAICS 39993