Velcro History: How We Became Hooked On Hook & Loop
How Velcro became one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, despite simultaneously gaining an unfashionable reputation.
10 min readJun 30, 2018
Recently, I spent a bit of time cleaning my messenger bag, which had an annoying problem — the pointy half of the Velcro was filthy, covered in ugly pieces of fabric it had picked up through years of heavy regular use.
After looking online, I found a great solution to this annoying problem: I took the sharp part of a plastic tape dispenser and rubbed it through the rough part of the material, which, amazingly, did the trick.
But it nonetheless got me thinking about this material, how pervasive it’s become, and how mind-blowing it must have been when it was unleashed on the world.
As it turns out, Velcro, despite being an artificial material through and through, was inspired directly by nature.
