The brand of zipper that is likely keeping your britches up at this very moment. Headquartered in Tokyo, 81-year-old (short for Yoshida Kogyo Kabu颅shikikaisha, which translates as 颅Yoshida Company Limited) was founded by Tadao 颅Yoshida, who started making cus颅tom zippers to take advantage of breaks and alignment flaws in other products of the time. To maintain Yoshida鈥檚 exacting standards, the com颅pany kept every stage of the zipper-颅making pro颅cess in-house, from smelting its own brass to forging the teeth to spinning the thread. (In Japan, YKK even makes the packaging the zippers are ship颅ped in.) The company now produces over one million miles of zippers each year; they鈥檙e used in everything from fanny packs to expedition tents. 鈥淣o 颅other zipper manufacturer comes close for consistent quality,鈥 says Tara Latham, apparel design manager for Black Diamond.
(Photo: Tim Tomkinson)
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