How Are Zippers Made?

Zipper has become one of the most important and commonly used accessories in garment industry. They are widely used in wallets, jackets, shoes, handbags and other items, and have become a necessity of life. Zippers for clothes are also divided into many categories according to the material and use. The following content describes the development of custom zippers and how the zipper manufacturing process works.

Background

The zipper was invented in the 19th century and is used as an alternative to buttons. Although the original design was done by Elias Howe, another inventor improved the design to create the nylon zipper we use today. In the early 20th century, zippers were developed as fasteners for soldiers' equipment in World War I. Zippers are attached to soldiers' life jackets, flight suits and belts, making it easier for soldiers to put on and take off the equipment more quickly and easily. Therefore, metal zippers greatly improve the quality of life of soldiers. It was not until 1920 that many zipper manufacturers began to produce zippers on a large scale and applied zippers to civil use. From then on, zippers began to be accepted by the public.

Detailed Manufacturing Process of Zipper

The first stage in making nylon pouch zippers is the stringer of zippers. The stringer is made of tape and chain. Therefore, in this stage, the tape must be made first, and then the chain is sewn on the tape. The machine uses high-speed needles to weave fabric into tape, which cross each other to form tape. After that, the machine sews the chain onto the tape. 

The metal or plastic material is put into the casting machine to make the resin zipper slider and puller of the zipper. According to the different casting machine, we can produce various sizes and shapes of double zipper slider and custom zipper puller. 

Finally, the plastic zipper slider and the zipper stop need to be installed on the zipper chain. The installation mode depends on the type of zipper, and the it is slightly different from type to type. Take metal zippers as an example. For closed metal zippers, first install the bottom zipper stop on the chain, then screw the waterproof zipper slider and top zipper stop on the chain. For the metal separating zipper, it is necessary to place the reinforcing belt at the middle point of each gap, place the insertion box and pin, and then install the slider and the top zipper stop to the chain. In zipper manufacturing factory, there are many cutting-edge manufacturing equipment, which enables the factory to realize automatic production and improve production efficiency.

Quality Control

Most people think that after the zipper is assembled, the production process is over. But in fact, before the zipper leaves the factory, there is still a need for quality control of the zipper to ensure that each zipper is qualified. Zippers that fail to pass the quality test will be recycled. In general, the manufacturers will implement strict quality control on zippers to ensure that their zippers are of high quality and can improve customer satisfaction with the products. In addition, it can avoid waste of resources and realize environmental protection.