Comments (11)

• 11

  Hardened - March 4, 2021

  Fascinating history Josh, thank you.

  My “brown M&M” for a product is an endorsement from The Prepared, ha!

  Another good correlate I’ve found is German design.

   
• 7

  David Dabney - March 4, 2021

  Love this! What a great/practical idea, and I appreciate the context as well. Thanks!

   
• 6

  M. E.Contributor - March 4, 2021

  Such a perfect post! I recently bought some apparently high-quality reflective gear – online so I couldn’t check the zippers – and sure enough the first thing to fail was the zipper (which was not YKK). It is SO annoying. As “Hardened” mentioned below, I pretty much go for “Prepared” recommendations first; they’ve proven immensely reliable.  I also read reviews in well-respected, long standing outdoor gear sites, as they tend to put stuff through the paces.

  Sadly there are lots of very sketchy review sites out there that look legitimate but have downright dangerous recommendations on them (example: storing propane indoors – WHAT? Not a good idea) A good tip is to check the “WhoIs” information for the site. If there’s no contact information for an actual human, and the domain is housed in a tiny country far-far away? Do NOT read their stuff!

   
  • 1

    OKORO GOODLUCK - September 8, 2021

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your next write ups thanks once again.

     
• 6

  mopdx - March 8, 2021

  This is amazing and enlightening read. The Brown M&M Van Halen story is one of my favorites ever for Quality Management. And I had no idea about the history of YKK.

  Domo arigato!

   
• 7

  Taylor Welden - March 13, 2021

  Excellent piece! Love this!

  I wrote something similar Carryology article a while back (less detailed, with a bit of humor):
  https://www.carryology.com/insights/insights-1/how-to-choose-a-well-designed-backpack-according-to-designers/

  Listen to OutKast

  My single best piece of advice for choosing a well-designed backpack, borrowing from my dozen-plus years as an Industrial Designer focusing on softgoods design of bags, packs, and travel gear for some major brands in the industry… My best advice…

  Yes, listen to OutKast.“I’mma show you how to wild out like Jack Tripper. Let me be bambino on your snipples. YKK on yo’ zipper, lick you like a lizard when I’m slizzerd”. That quick 4-word verse snuck in there from Mr. Big Boi can make all the difference between choosing a great bag and one that falls apart on you at the worst time possible. For example, when you’re 8 days into a 15-day adventure and the contents of your pack completely spill out over the floor of the Narita airport as you’re sprinting to make your flight to Manila which leaves in 10 minutes, leaving you no way to refill and close your bag, as the zipper completely self-destructed. Pretty horrific, eh? Well, that’s probably because that zipper was some no-name generic garbage nonsense.

  There ARE many other high-quality and trustworthy zipper manufacturers out there (TiZip, RIRI, Talon, just to name a few). And I personally have and still confidently use all of these zipper brands on bags and packs I’ve designed… frequently even. But for a quick and easy way to choose a great bag… look for that industry standard, the YKK zipper. Or at least look for a zipper that is branded with a quality zipper manufacturer’s name on it. If the maker of the bag doesn’t call out the name of the zipper on their website or on the product hangtag, it’s because they’re embarrassed and don’t want you, the customer, to know. So remember… listen to OutKast. And look for that YKK on yo’ zipper.

   
  • 4

    mopdx - March 18, 2021

    Very informative article. Thank you for the Carryology link, Taylor!

     
• 8

  G Greene - March 18, 2021

  I have a coat from Arc’teryx which is their warmest (and most expensive) model. It’s spectacular. I’ve survived two winters in Sweden in it. But this year the zipper broke. I have no idea who manufactures their zippers, but it’s not YKK (or not branded as so, at least). Arc’teryx gives a lifetime warranty, but I have to ship it all the way to Canada at my own expense, wait for them to assess the damage, and either get a repair or a replacement many months later. Not only does this really put me off as a customer, but it makes me wonder just what the hell I would do if I were on Everest or something wearing this coat and the zipper just broke like that. How much does it cost a manufacturer to put a better quality zipper on a coat that costs as much as an iPhone???

   
  • 2

    Robert LarsonContributor - March 18, 2021

    Oh man! That sure has got to be frustrating! A YKK zipper couldn’t really be that much more expensive than the knock off brand that was probably put on there, they should have went with that in the first place to prevent their product from failing as much. Sorry to hear that.

     
• 4

  mopdx - March 24, 2021

  This post (and the insightful Comments) had me thinking for quite some time about where YKK zippers might be found in my everyday (non-prep) attire. So I raided my jacket/coat closet to gather data points. Here is a summary of interesting observations found in my closet (YMMV):

  • As expected, many (but not all) of decent technical jackets were outfitted with YKK, although some companies did not use YKK across all product lines.
  • Surprisingly, some “value engineered” and “fashion-focused” apparel manufacturers use YKK.
  • Invariably, all of the off-brands and “made-to-order” companies did not use YKK.

  Detailed observations:

  Nearly all of my outerwear from Columbia Sportswear have YKK–these include vests, puffy jackets, rain jackets, and heavy winter jackets. The only exceptions were the economical 100% polyester vest and a really old wool coat (circa 2008).

  I was not expecting any of my Uniqlo jackets and coats to include YKK, as they are mostly known as value-engineered, contemporary clothing retailer. But all of them include YKK! One minor complaint, however, is that some of their outerwear have smaller zipper teeth sizes.

  Likewise, my roster of Adidas track jackets, hoodies, and other fashion-centric jackets were all outfitted with YKK. I guess that means I can rock the looks of both Run-DMC and OutKast now. 😉

  The technical cycling jackets by Showers Pass were a puzzle. Their $120-ish windbreaker jacket was outfitted with YKK, but their more expensive jackets were completely unpredictable, as they both had YKK on *some* of their zippers. One high-end jacket had YKK zippers on hand pockets, but not anywhere else. Another high-end jacket only had YKK on the main zipper, but not elsewhere. The brown M&Ms were not evenly distributed here.

  And as much as I appreciate my conference presenter/volunteer hoodies (which I received as gifts) and customized hoodies/track jackets from Neighborhoodies, they were not YKK-equipped.

  I haven’t collected data points on backpacks, travel luggage, hip packs, jeans, or man purses yet. Maybe I might embark on those inventories at a future date!

   
  • 4

    Robert LarsonContributor - March 24, 2021

    I’ve been doing the same thing lately. Every time I pull a jacket or bag out of my closet I’ve been looking to see if it’s a YKK zipper. Surprisingly many of them are, and the ones that aren’t, I already know that I don’t like those coats as much.

    Kind of bummed out that my new wallet that I bought, which zips shut, didn’t come with a YKK. It is so stiff and hard to open and close and just doesn’t move smoothly. I’m going to try the old method of rubbing some wax on the teeth to see if that can help it run more smoothly.