Zips are very important to us!  And our zippers have always been supplied by Supreme Zipper of Pennsylvania.

Debby is in charge of the zippers, and she spends a lot of time keeping on top of what we have and what we will need.  It can take months to get zips, and it will make me crazy if production is delayed because of zippers or thread or anything but Fabric. 

Some of our garments have multiple types of zippers.  AND, the size of the zippers will vary with the size of the garment.  We typically make nine sizes of our garments, which usually means we need at least three different size zippers for each particular spot on a garment.   Our Anoraks, for example, use zippers on the chest pockets, the side vents and the inner pouch.  Three different lengths, different types and different weights of zippers ... the chest-pocket zips are lighter than the side zips.  The side zips are open-bottom, whereas the chest zips and pouch zips are closed at both ends.  And the length of all these zips will vary with the size of the Anorak.  The colors of the zips also vary with the Fabric.   So Debby really has a difficult and tedious job keeping on top of the zip sitch. 

As a sort of safety margin, we generally have an awful lot of zippers on hand.  I'm sure we have >1000 pounds/454 kg right now, and I bet Debby has a lot of zips on order, too!

Despite all Debby's planning and prep, there have been times when we modified production plans based on the availability of zippers.

All our zippers are American-made by YKK in the USA. Even the zipper-pulls (the little thing you grab with your fingers), which is a whole other issue. There is another company with a great reputation for their zippers, but they manufacture the pulls overseas.  Not the zippers, just the pull that attaches to the rider.

There is a huge variety of zippers, many ways to configure them, different materials from which they are manufactured and even different ways they can be operated.  For example, a LOCKING ZIP will move only when the pull is held perpendicular to the zip.  When the pull lies flat, the rider is locked in place.   We mostly use locking zips, although sometimes they don't seem to lock.

YKK is actually a Japanese-owned company that does a lot of manufacture in the USA. They keep us on our toes, tho, because they sometimes shift the place of manufacture of some of the zips we use. Manufacture has been moved to Japan, or to America, depending on the exact zipper and year. Supreme knows our requirements, and keeps us up to date.  When manufacture is going to shift to Japan, Supreme will let us know in advance.

We make the best products we can.  And that ALMOST always means any choice we make will be the most expensive.  But NOT in the case of zippers!  Metal zips, particularly brass, are the most expensive, and some feel they look the best.  We may eventually use brass zippers for dressier pieces, but not yet.   We generally use Vislon (a type of plastic resin) zips because they are more tolerant of sunlight, grit and cold than metal zippers.  Plus, Vislon is less bulky, lighter and quieter than metal.  Also, Vislon is safer because it does not conduct electricity. So, Vislon zips are one of only two situations where the less-expensive choice makes a better product.  (The other better-cheaper choice is larger production runs with the sewing pros result in small reductions in the unit cost.)

Another surprising thing about zips is that we have been unable to find zippers with performance guaranteed in temperatures below -20F/-29C, so some of our garments, such as the All-Around Jac and the SkiJac, have storm flaps partly to insulate the zippers. The storm flaps also keep the zips from getting caked with ice and snow or clogged with grit.

We use Double Zippers on the center front of all our garments that have front zips.  A double zip can be opened at both bottom and top, or either, or neither.   Any outdoor garment that uses a single zipper is just not a serious garment.  

Our SkiJac uses Double-Closed-End Zippers for the pit zips.  These are the most specialized and expensive of our zips.

We use the best American-made zippers we can find. We've heard more than once that Riri makes the best zips, but they are made in Italy, so we can't use them (even though all my grandparents were born in Italy).

Remarkably few problems with our zips have been brought to our attention.  Probably the most common (least uncommon!) problem we hear about is a zip that behaved fine during our inspections but the customer finds the zip grabbing surrounding Fabric.  Usually this requires a little bit of sewing.

Zippers do break down over time. There is plenty of info on the web about how to repair them. Here is a a great short YouTube tutorial on fixing a zipper slider that is not zipping the teeth together. THANKS to Sterling Wong!  Also, it turns out (should not have been a surprise) you can easily find online ZIPPER PLIERS designed for exactly this chore. Sterling's video shows how to do it with a standard needlenose pliers. And THANKS to UCAN Zippers USA for another similar video. There are lots more such videos out there

20 May 2025 --- Ralph