What does the YKK word on zippers mean? You probably have some among the clothes in your closet.
If fashion is a sector that is constantly reinventing itself, it has especially transformed itself in terms of practicality. Some developments are more discreet and yet, they have largely contributed to simplifying our daily lives. Although the subject seems secondary, the fastening of clothes is a more important aspect than it seems. 100 years ago, the zipper, or zip, appeared, offering an alternative to traditional buttons.
It was only at the end of the 19th century that the American Whitcomb Judson patented this invention, which he developed using his own machine, disappointed by the quality of most closures. The zipper then became the “Eclair” in 1929 with the creation of this trademark registered by a French company. It was in fact a company from Rouen that took up the torch, with a closure that had already become well established in a few decades.
Present on jeans, sweatshirts, bags, jackets, everywhere, the zipper has many more secrets than you think. A careful eye will notice that many zippers have the word “YKK” on them. These three letters are in fact initials, those of Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha. The name of the Japanese company created in 1934 by Tadao Yoshida in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo, as explained on the site of the brand. This company is at the origin of the development of the zipper as we know it today.
Their products became established throughout the world from the 1960s onwards, to the point that the Japanese company ended up catching up not only with the French company “Eclair”, but also with its American competitor Talon, from the 1980s onwards. New York Times explained in 1981: “Talon, which once had a firm grip on the zipper market, is now trying to defend and consolidate its declining market share. Ten years ago, the odds were 7 in 10 that a zipper slider would be marked Talon.”
More recently, in 2018, an article in the journal The Economist indicated that the YKK company represented 40% of the global zipper market. The brand is now present in more than 70 countries, including France, as the newspaper indicates West France. As the Japanese brand’s website specifies, it arrived in France in 1967 and had a factory built in 1972 in Seclin, in Hauts-de-France.
The company’s success is based on the management of its activity, which it controls from start to finish in all its production sites. A system that allows it to guarantee its customers quality products, a commitment that has allowed the brand to collaborate with luxury brands. In 2018, a article The Journal du Textile reported that “YKK France generated more than half of its turnover, which amounts to 37 million euros, with the major French luxury brands.”