VELCRO®
The origin story for Velcro is interesting, but what's even better is the "Don't Say Velcro" video featuring their trademark lawyers. You'll need to watch that.
In 1941, Swiss engineer and inventor George de Mestral became intrigued by the burdock burs that stuck to his dog’s fur as they passed by the unique plants on a hike.
Recognising the potential of the unique fastening capabilities of the hundreds of microscopic “hooks” on the bur, de Mestral worked to develop a process to translate the burdock bur’s fastening to textiles and creating what we now call hook and loop.
Watch the second video below for a closeup look at how this works.
He named his company, “Velcro”, an amalgam of the French words velour (“velvet”) and crochet (“hook”). He got a patent for his hook and loop in 1955 and the first trademark registration for the VELCRO® mark in 1956.
Velcro was first used commercially in the aviation and aerospace industries. It was used to secure items in place during flights. Velcro was also used in the medical field to hold bandages and dressings in place. Then, in the 1960s, Velcro became popular in the fashion industry. It was used as a closure for clothing, shoes and accessories.
Velcro was particularly popular in children’s clothing because it was easy for young children to fasten and unfasten on their own. In more recent years, Velcro has been used in a wide range of applications across many industries, and has become a widely used fastening system due to its versatility and ease of use.
Velcro has enjoyed a close relationship with NASA over many years. NASA has repeatedly leveraged the durability, reliability, strength and versatility of Velcro fasteners to help solve some of the engineering challenges of space travel, including extreme environments, zero gravity, limited dexterity in space suits and many unknowns. Indeed, VELCRO Brand hook and loop was used extensively throughout the Apollo 11 command and lunar modules. These uses, some of which were specified by the mission astronauts themselves, included all the obvious things … but one that deserves special mention. Some NASA astronauts built Velcro hook-and-loop tape into their helmets, so they could scratch their noses while in outer space. Naturally, there’s a Reddit thread devoted to this.
The Velcro Company’s patent expired some time ago, and not every hook and loop fastening out there has anything to do with VELCRO. As a result their lawyers are very keen to make sure that people don’t use “velcro” as a noun or a verb, e.g. “Check out my new velcro shoes!” VELCRO is actually a brand, and that’s why in 2017 they made a somewhat surreal video to support their #DontSayVelcro campaign. Pour yourself a drink and take a look below. It’s pretty funny.
Finally, hat tip to London based XK Studio who were approached by VELCRO Australia to create a tribute film that celebrates the hook and loop technology behind VELCRO brand fasteners. Check that out too.
Story Idea: Laurie Rosenwald
Video by Velcro Brand Companies Legal Team
Another Cool Video
REMORANDOM Book Chapter
