It would not take long before Talon’s market share would fall to 35 percent and a Japanese company called YKK would be there to fill in the gap. Talon did not do enough to improve its productivity, so its prices were too high it failed to innovate, consequently neglecting new applications such as handbags, luggage or outdoor gear averse to risk, it exported little, despite the fact that textile manufacturing was fast relocating. It was a classic case of a monopoly coming unstuck after resting too long on its laurels. However, within a decade, the formerly unrivaled company would lose half of its market share. Flourishing well through the 1960’s, it was the Talon name that could be found on seven out of every ten zipper tabs. Looking for a way to interest East Coast women, who were suspected of having doubts about the rather visible button fly, a San Francisco-based denim brand called Levi’s introduced its first style with a zipper in 1947.Īround that time, the incumbent American zipper manufacturer, Talon, was enjoying a comfortably dominant position in its home market. Twenty-five years passed between 1893, when Judson’s patent was filed, and its first actual use on boots, and even more time passed between then and when the zipper would find its way into the closets of a truly expansive number of consumers. Shortly thereafter, patent in hand, Judson unveiled his invention at the World’s Fair, and the zipper was born. Patent Office” that his “clasp locker” was novel enough to warrant patent protection. “It took him two years to convince the U.S. His solution? “A complicated hook-and-eye fastener that featured a ‘guide’ to clasp a sequence of hooks and eyes to close and reopen a clothing item,” as the Chicago Tribune’s James Janega described it several years ago. Judson deduced that there simply had to be a better, more efficient way to secure his high-button boots. Working at the time as a mechanical engineer for Earle Manufacturing Company, a maker of streetcars, Mr. In the early 1890’s, a Chicago-based inventor named Whitcomb L. That is where, after all, the now utterly-commonplace invention first got its start. If anywhere in the world ever enjoyed a comparative advantage with respect to zippers it was the U.S. One of those countries? The United States, where in 1960, YKK first touched down with an office in New York City. As of this year, YKK’s footprint can be found in 73 different countries by way of about 100 wholly-owned subsidiaries. Instead, YKK’s rise from small Japanese firm to global giant stems from its practice of investing abroad to establish a vast network of factories, capable of quickly turning out tons of high-quality zippers for businesses around the world. Moreover, it was not YKK’s practice of exporting zippers en masse from Japan to meet the world’s zipper needs that catapulted it to success. The international success of the Japanese company – which first got its start marketing fastening products in 1934 – lies not in its invention of the zipper after all, it did not invent the little device.

With $10 billion in annual revenues and a whopping 40 percent share of the global zipper market, Nihonbashi, Tokyo-based YKK sits in a mighty position on the totem pole. By 2024, the global market for zippers is projected to reach $19.8 billion, and one company will bring in the majority of the money, YKK, the Japanese firm that currently holds the title of the world’s top zipper manufacturer. These handy, everyday devices were invented in the United States more than a century ago, and now make up a global industry worth billions of dollars. All of a sudden you have a quick way of securely closing a bag, jacket or pair of pants – a zipper.

Combine two rows of fine teeth that lock together, a slider and a tab.

Dollar in a zippr