But what is hidden by this YKK marked on the zippers ?

What does the YKK word mean on zipperséclair ? You certainly 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 clothing is a more important aspect than it seems. 100 years ago, the fastening of slide, or zip, appeared, offering an alternative to traditional buttons.

It was not until the end of the 19th century that the American Whitcomb Judson patented this invention, which he developed using his own machine, which was known for the quality of most zippers. The zipper would later become the “zipper” in 1929 with the creation of this trademark registered by a French company. It is in fact a company from Rouen that will take up the torch, with a closure that has 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 words “YKK”. 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 brand's website. This company is the origin of the development of the zipper as we know it today.

Their products became established worldwide from the 1960s onwards, so much so that the Japanese company ended up catching up not only with the French company “Eclair”, but also with its American competitor Talon, by the 1980s. The 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 market share” down. Ten years ago, there was a 7 in 10 chance that a zipper slider would be marked “Talon”.

More recently, in 2018, an article in The Economist magazine indicated that the YKK company represented 40% of the global zipper market. slide. The brand is now present in more than 70 countries, including France, as indicated by the newspaper Ouest-France. As specified on the Japanese brand's website, 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 the beginning to end 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, an article in the Journal du Textile indicated that “YKK France made more than half of its turnover, which amounts to 37 million euros, with the greats of French luxury.