Zipper is a common connecting device. Its core structure is composed of key components such as chain elements, sliders, and upper and lower stops. But one company started with just such a gadget and produced nearly half of the zippers on the planet. You may have guessed it, yes, it’s YKK. Many merchants will mention the quality of their clothing when they don't have much work to do. We use YKK for zippers, but many people probably didn't expect that this guy's sales are so strong.


Last year, the company's global zipper sales exceeded 10 billion, which would be enough to circle the earth almost 80 times.

Today, let’s talk about the story of zipper giant YKK.


YKK’s fortune is largely due to its founderTadao Yoshida's zipper repair skills.

Around 1934, Tadao Yoshida accidentally found a batch of backlogged zippers.

At that time, Japan's basic industry was not developed, and zippers were purely assembled manually. The failure rate was frighteningly high, and zippers were often returned.

This pile of industrial waste is regarded as waste in the eyes of some people, but it has become an outlet for others.

Tadao Yoshida, who didn't have much steel in his pocket, borrowed money to buy the goods, set up a 3S company, and started working.

Since the previous batch of zippers didn't work, I studied how to renovate them. By studying the craftsmanship, he repaired this batch of zippers to be stronger and more durable than the products on the market. The company immediately gained a reputation and won its first pot of gold.

Not to mention Japan, zipper repair was also an important craft in China twenty or thirty years ago when the economy was underdeveloped~

Picture source: Xiaohongshu@ARMINERhuihui


Soon, Tadao Yoshida paid off his debts, built factories, and even began to think about overseas business, entering the Mexican and American markets.

No matter how you look at it, this is a cool script.

But unfortunately, the war destroyed everything, and Yoshida's zipper factory in Tokyo was destroyed in a US air strike.

However, Yoshida did not give up. He built a new factory in his hometown. After some twists and turns, he got back on the road.

In 1946, the company officially changed its name to YKK.


After Japan's defeat, the country was in ruins and was in need of renovation. Yoshida's zippers were easy to sell, but when workers rubbed them by hand, quality became a big problem when trying to mass-produce them.

Workers fixed the chain elements on the cloth strips by hand, which was not only slow, but also highly precise.

Loss of precision will lead to uneven spacing between chain elements, and zipper jams and misalignments are commonplace.

You must know the feel of this kind of inferior zipper. After all, in the school uniforms worn by those born in the 1990s, zippers are most likely to have this quality.

On the other hand, the United States has begun to use specialized machines for production, and is far ahead in terms of cost and quality. Once it flows into Japan, YKK can only be hoisted and beaten.

Here, Yoshida is All in again:Shift from manual manufacturing to mechanized manufacturing.

In 1948, he took out a bank loan and imported four automatic sprocket machines from the United States.


After the introduction of these zipper chain machines, YKK's product quality and production efficiency have been greatly improved, and it has reaped the benefits.

So soon, they were no longer satisfied with imported machines or replicas. Instead, they developed their own zipper chain machines and improved them.

On the one hand, it can effectively control costs and keep every linkHighly consistent quality, on the other hand, you can also putThe improved core technology must be held in one's own hands.

Starting from self-produced production equipment, a very classic business story came: YKK began to get involved in the upstream and downstream, setting up aluminum alloy factories and textile factories, and began to do everything by itself, from raw materials to various parts.

Take this aluminum alloy factory for example. It was originally built for zippers, but later it was discovered that the quality of the aluminum alloy it produced was very good, and making zippers was a bit wasteful. YKK simply focused on new skills: building materials.

Now it has become a world-renowned building materials supplier.

In this way, an "assembly" factory forced itself into a zipper industry empire.

1964, YKK CM6 model


Of course, you may think that heroes don’t mention their bravery!

It’s 2025, what kind of technology can a small zipper have?

This may be the case in the low-end market, but in the mid-to-high-end zipper market, it is really not necessarily the case.

High-end zippers are all about those details that make you miserable.

For example, if you pull it halfway, it's stuck, and it can't go up or down. Another example is that if the clothes are pulled hard, they will become misaligned or even slip out from the top.

The solutions to these problems are not metaphysics, there are various patents behind them...


Therefore, even though they are all zippers, the actual quality will vary greatly.

At this time, it is very important how the brand settles accounts...

For low-end brands, regardless of this or that, whoever is cheaper will use it, and the savings will be profits.

But for high-end brands, an Arc'teryx jacket that costs several thousand, or a six-figure LV bag will never allow itself to be questioned by customers as a defective product because a zipper is stuck.

That's the thing with zippers. It can't make a luxury product, but it can ruin it in one second.


At this time, YKK’s technology and the super stability brought by vertical integration are particularly attractive.

To put it bluntly, YKK’s story proves a simple truth: if you make an inconspicuous small part error-free and highly consistent for billions of times, then you will be the moat.

This thing sounds simple, but it is abnormal to do. But it is precisely because of this that in the past, YKK was able to capture nearly half of the global zipper market and became popular among major luxury brands.

Wait, why are you talking about the past...

Nowadays, in the field of luxury goods, YKK has to face the attack from Switzerland's RIRI and Italy's Lampo. In the mass market, it is also being frantically stolen by Chinese companies.

For example, SBS (Xunxing) and SAB (Weixing) have taken off in recent years. In the past, everyone thought that domestically produced zippers were just for use, with large quantities and high performance-price ratio.

As a result, quantitative changes have now resulted in qualitative changes.

YKK must be very familiar with this road. After all, they were able to make a fortune precisely because they achieved innovation in the mass market.


Not only has the product quality kept up, but the service is also good. Domestic manufacturers are very guaranteed in terms of manufacturing speed and delivery cycle.

In recent years, these brands have also begun to cooperate with domestic first-line clothing brands Bosideng, Anta, and Li Ning, and they are thriving.

This set up YKK.

Because YKK still has different product lines, some supply luxury goods, some are high-tech, and the mass market is large in volume, no matter what route you take, they are all important sectors.

Under the crazy impact of domestic zippers, YKK has begun a price war.

Therefore, you can still see YKK on the products of Uniqlo and Decathlon, and for such large customers or local Japanese customers, YKK will give a very affordable price.

I remember when Shi Chao was studying, many students would judge whether clothes were good or not based on whether there was a YKK mark on the zipper. Although YKK is still the well-deserved big brother, it has to put down its status and join the new players in being involved in the next more ruthless era.