Why all the zippers have ‘YKK’ engraved on them?

World News Nilgun Salim
http://stocknewsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/YKK-Ziipera.jpg

Have you ever wondered why almost all clothing items have a zipper engraved with the letters ‘YKK’? The explanation is as simple as possible.

The inscription ‘YKK’ on zippers occurs because ‘YKK’ is the name of the largest company in the world that produces this locking system. The company is Japanese and was founded in 1934 by a man named Tadao Yoshida.

The abbreviation ‘YKK’ represents ‘Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisa’ and it means ‘Yoshida Company Limited’ (Yoshida, Limited Liability Company). Yoshida also produces buttons, buckles and other items for closing and fastening.

YKK has 114 branches in 71 countries worldwide. The competition comes from Chinese manufacturer SBS. Together, the two companies are offering half of the total production of zippers worldwide.

However, the zipper was not invented by the Japanese company. American Whitcomb L. Judson is considered the inventor of the zipper, whom he called, in 1893, ‘the lock’.

He even founded a company which produced elements of this kind, which he called ‘The Universal Fastener Company’. The company activates today under the name ‘Talon’.

YKK zippers are presents on all sorts of products, from jackets to traveling suitcases. The Japanese company produces nearly 7 billion zippers per year. YKK is now the world’s foremost zipper manufacturer, making about 90% of all zippers in over 206 facilities in 52 countries.  The Japanese company has a reputation for making strong, dependable zippers in a bazillion colors and sizes.