Annoying Things in life #7. Garment Zipper Running Off Track

Zippers were first patented in 1937 by a Swedish designer in the US. It’s fair to say faulty zips have been terrorising the human race since that time! A zip that fails to engage or locks up is very annoying at any time. This always seems to happen when you are in a hurry to go somewhere, and you are throwing on that favourite or special warm jacket that has a full-length zipper. You know the situation – you are trying to get the zip to engage in its’ running track, but what had previously been a simple, co-operative process now becomes a dilemma when the zip won’t engage, and you cannot get started. The more you push and fumble the less likely it is to co-operate – and then you have success! You quickly pull the zipper handle up only to find that it never did engage properly and now the zipper is running freely up one side whilst the other dangles in the breeze. Suddenly it is stuck half way up the garment and refused to budge up or down. What are the choices now? The temptation is to try to forcibly shake, push and stretch things in every direction, but generally that only results in bending the teeth of the zipper and you now have a permanent jammed situation. My strategy has usually been to try and stay calm (if that’s possible when you are rushing) and to carefully manoeuvre the off track zip back to the starting position. Thankfully that does work on most occasions. If all else fails, it requires a contortionist effort to try to get the garment over your head and at least lay it down on the bed so you can attack the challenge from a different angle. Throughout the years I have learnt that there are many quality zips on garments, jackets and ski wear and I now have an appreciation of the better quality zips. The best rated zippers in the world are the Japanese YKK brand – especially their metal zippers. They produce over 7 billion zippers each year- over 50% of the global production of zippers! Hopefully you will not have this “locking up” experience in the future when you are needing to get out the door quickly. Good luck with your next zipper jam.

Look out for my next posting in the following week