Zippers

Technology changes clothing. Gore-Tex made it waterproof. Spandex made it stretch. Each innovation expanded what clothes could do.

But some impractical traditions persist. Women’s pants have shallow pockets. Winter skirts leave legs exposed. Men’s jackets trap heat in summer. These deprive their wearers of comfort and function.

Some professions require ridiculous costumes. British judges wear wigs. American Supreme Court justices wear robes. They have no practical value but signal authority by invoking the past.

The zipper is a rarely appreciated innovation. Whitcomb Judson patented the first slide fastener in 1891. Gideon Sundback refined it into the modern zipper by 1913. B.F. Goodrich coined the name “zipper” in 1923 while marketing rubber boots that used it. YKK, the Japanese zipper manufacturer founded in 1934, grew to produce nearly half of all zippers made worldwide and became the default mark of quality construction in garments from workwear to luxury fashion. And in 1968, Dow Chemical’s Ziploc line made zipper so affordable they could be used for disposable plastic bags.

Stone-age tailors settled for buttons only because zippers hadn’t been invented yet. Technology has progressed to where we can let buttons go the way of the rotary phone.

Zippers solve buttons’ structural problems. A buttoned placket puckers or gaps under stress and billows when slack. A zipper eliminates the placket entirely. When closed, the fabric on both sides becomes a continuous sheet from seam to seam.

This improves fit and appearance. A flat front reads as cleaner and more intentional than a buttoned one. Fashion designers have known this for decades, which is why zippers dominate in trousers, outerwear, and athletic wear where fit and line are priorities.

Zippers are more practical than buttons. They close faster. They seal more completely. They are easier to use for people with low dexterity such as people with arthritis or hand tremors. For millions of people, a zipper is not a convenience. It is access.

Down with buttons. Up with zippers.