How to choose the right zippers for your garments

Zippers were one of the simplest yet most revolutionary inventions. The patent for the first zipper prototype belongs to the inventor of the sewing machine, Elias Howe, who obtained it in 1851.

A zipper has a row of teeth on each side. All these teeth have a bottom stop and a top stop. The slider pushes the teeth together to close the zipper chain, and the pull tab moves it up and down. A high-quality zipper gives a very strong chain that's hard to break without moving the slider the opposite way to separate the teeth. A zipper needs all its teeth to be exactly the same size for the mechanism to work properly.

Zippers can be closed-end or separating. Closed-end zippers are joined at the bottom and don't come apart when fully opened. A separating zipper, on the other hand, comes apart, separating two parts of a garment.

There are different styles and sizes of zippers, which can be grouped into four categories:

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