Some words and acronyms become so familiar to us that we rarely give them a second thought. It's possible to regularly look at some of these without ever knowing, or even stopping to wonder, what they actually stand for. A good example of this is the letters stamped on the zipper pull of many of the jeans and jackets we wear.

YKK stands for “Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha”, which roughly translates from Japanese into English as “Yoshida Manufacturing Company.”

YKK was founded in Japan in 1934 by Tadao Yoshida, a 24 year old worker in a fastener company. When his employer went out of business, he started his own company named San-S Shokai in Tokyo. The company was renamed Yoshida Kogyosho Kabushikikaiska in 1938.

The company prospered. As of September 2021, YKK made nearly half of all the zippers sold in the world, some 7 billion a year - enough to circle the globe 80 times. The company uses its own brass, polyester, threads, and zipper machines. By controlling so much of the process, YKK is able to deliver high-quality zippers at reasonable prices, which in part helps explain the nearly 50% market share.

Zippers are not the only fastener the company makes. YKK also produces hook and loop tape, as well as snaps and buttons that are used in apparel, the automotive industry, personal protective gear, tactical equipment, luggage, and even by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) the U.S. agency that deals with technology regarding airplanes and space.

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