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Reply to: Why YKK zippers are the brown M&Ms of product design: look at the little details to judge overall gear quality Posted 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.

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Reply to: Why YKK zippers are the brown M&Ms of product design: look at the little details to judge overall gear quality Posted 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.