# Is there only one zipper company in the world?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-only-one-zipper-company-in-the-world/9183>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 26, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-only-one-zipper-company-in-the-world/9183 "2000-03-26T14:25:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kent4mmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/34f0e0/32.png) [@Kent4mmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent4mmy)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-only-one-zipper-company-in-the-world/9183/1 "2000-03-26T14:25:00Z")

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About 15 years ago I found out what the YKK stood for on the zippers of most clothing. Through the years it’s become somewhat of a habit for me to look for YKK on new clothing I purchase. Every single piece of clothing that contained a zipper was stamped with YKK. Every one. For fifteen years. Is this the only zipper company in the world?

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**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-only-one-zipper-company-in-the-world/9183/2 "2000-03-26T15:30:00Z")

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Ten years ago, in [What does YKK mean on zippers?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_209.html), Cecil noted that Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha claimed that it was “the foremost manufacturer of closures [zippers, mostly] in the world,” but didn’t say anything about them completely monopolizing the zipper markets.

An excerpt from [The Way of Strategy](http://www.ganesha.org/wos/market.html) notes that “YKK, a Japanese zipper company, captured market share from Talon by shortening its distribution chain. YKK bypassed  
wholesalers and sold zippers directly to clothing manufacturers. [Porter, 1985, p. 522]”

I have at least one article of clothing with a Talon zipper, so I assume that at least one competitor is still in business. And I wouldn’t get too worried–my understanding the that the “mark of the beast” will be on our “right hand or foreheads”–not our zippers.