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eXamine Your Zipper

Zipper talk! Zipper pulls, tabs, deets, probs, info. Post pics of your favorite zips/pulls/fasteners

YKK


probably the most well-known of the branded zips, YKK is a Japanese company that's been the industry standard for decades.



One of their higher-end models, the Lumina is part of the Excella line of high-end zips. I believe it's YKK's answer to RiRi

RiRI



European company that makes expensive, quality zippers. Often seen on luxury garments and gothy brands. Pricey

Talon



American company. I've seen their zips on all kinds of styles of stuff. Japanese brands love vintage Talon zips, like Nonnative and NBHD. I believe they are credited as the first brand to produce the zipper and make it as popular as it is now. Now defunct.

Universal



MIA zips, I believe they're still around. Unrelated with Talon, which was called Universal before changing its name.

Waldes



Another Japanese company. Unlike YKK, I think all of their zips are made in Japan. Very popular with workwear garms

Crown



American company, also defunct. Zippers were suuuuuuper tuff.

Lampo



Euro brand, sometimes (perhaps unfairly) referred to as a lesser RiRi. Still pretty nice, definitely a step above generic YKK

Rey



Spanish company, I think. Lots of simple zippers, nothing too fancy.

IPI



European brand. dunno much about them other than that Prada uses them sometimes.

Lenzip



Strong, custom zippers made in USA. Sometimes seen on Schotts.

Interesting article about the founding of YKK and how their factory is run:

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/ ... them_.html

some of my favorite Zipper Moments I have in my 'garm details' folder

raf (smiling)

I like the conmar zips on RC stuff. not super smooth but very solid

I hate this trend these past couple years to just use RiRi on everything. They're great on smaller things like inner pockets, accessories, and whatnot but I have yet to find anything RiRi zipper work well on something like a jacket. They're just not very smooth when they have to travel a longer length. EDIT: I find this true for both m4 and m6 variants (arguably the most popular choices) but the m8 is a lot better. Not perfect but much better than the other two. I'd also like to say I don't like how small the pull is.

what can people tell me about Ideal zips

the £135 norse x elka raincoat has riri zips, iirc. the smoothest zip action i have ever had the pleasure of zippin

yes yes thank you.
i googled after posting and kind of had a "d'oh"moment.
found a pair of trousers at an outlet with ideal zips on the fly and the primary hip pockets (yes i bought them because double front pockets l o l) and i quite like the pulls. the actual action is... kind of coarse? an odd roughness to them, but it feels INCREDIBLY beefy. i quite like.

Copper Riri on my harrington:

Salmi double zipper on my M65:

Greatest zipper puls of all time: Maharishi (pull one to find out why)

Cornelian Taurus uses these super satisfying chunky leather zipper pulls





also shout out to the Lumina zips

definitely my favorite of all stock zippers I've used. So smooth and the teeth come apart/together so easily. Don't wear much with zippers but the Lumina is a pleasure

What's the difference between Lumina and Excella?

Anyways...

Riri zips: Got them on Shellac (cargo pocket), Zam Barrett (hoodie), Julius, Odyn Vovk (hoodie). A pleasure to work with, except the Odyns. Those are painful to zip. Yucko.

Lampo: Zam Barrett (hoodie), Diet Butcher Slim Skin (coat). Love them on my DBSS, though they're a bit bumpy. The Zams have since been replaced for Riri since they broke (first outright breakage for me)

Excella: Love. Beginning to fail on my Guidis (boots), but those boots are old as all heck. A love affair on my Devoas (pants, jacket), though.

Standard YKK/Ykk 45 (Julius gasmasks): meh. Whatever. I want something better. It looks and feels small and flimsy compared to the rest of the hardware.

I thiiiiink Excella refers to the plating process of the zip, whereas Lumina is the type of pull/teeth
When I say Lumina I think of these guys so maybe that's right?


Agreed about YKK and RiRi. RiRi are beautiful and often smooth but I've had a few that were pretty tricky (especially on a Shellac coat with double zips). I mostly find stock YKKs flimsy in comparison to the nicer (Lampo, Lumina)/more utilitarian stuff (Universal, Talon). Most of my nicer clothes with zips seem to have done away with them.

Getting ready to send off an old (1989) pair of CDG pants to my friend - found a neat zipper I've never heard of: Y-ZIP. Pretty smooth, it's nice! Wonder if they went outta biz.

true.