The Zipper Is Getting Its First Major Upgrade in 100 Years

By stripping away the fabric tape that's held zippers together for a hundred years, Japanese clothing giant YKK is designing the future of seamless clothing. For more than a century, the zipper has stayed more or less the same: two interlocking rows of teeth, a sliding pull, and the fabric tape that holds it together. Billions are used every day, yet few people ever stop to think about how they work. Now, after a hundred years of stasis, YKK, the Japanese company that makes roughly half the world's zippers, has decided it's time to rethink the mechanism that holds much of modern clothing together. Their new AiryString zipper looks ordinary at first glance.