![]() According to Friedel’s research, Talon, Inc., was formerly known as the Hookless Fastener Company, but by 1937, the firm had adopted the recognizable Talon name. ![]() One of the earliest manufacturers of slide fasteners was the company Talon, Inc., which produced the half-scale sample dresses in the Museum’s collection. New York: Dritz Traum Co., Inc., 1939, 22. 4: Talon Slide Fastener Application Book. In appealing to the lust for modernity, the zipper thus allowed manufacturers to differentiate their products from similar ones, and fashion designers to see the possibility that the zipper could be both decorative and functional. After slowly building market share in functional clothing and utilitarian products, it fittingly began to flourish in the 1920s as its novelty began to represent the sense of modernity that pervaded the decade. ![]() In his book Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty, Friedel posited that there was no inherent demand for the zipper at any stage of its history, and its success took time. Historian of technology Robert Friedel has argued that the zipper is “ubiquitous yet superfluous.” Humans have clothed themselves for centuries, and buttons, snaps, and ties are all seemingly easier, cheaper, and less complicated solutions for the ‘problem’ of fastening garments. It did not, however, immediately revolutionize the garment industry after its introduction at the end of the nineteenth century. Although we take it for granted now-perhaps every time we dress in the morning-the ubiquitous zipper was once the latest in garment technology. In the TCM collection, we discovered some fascinating-albeit a little mysterious-objects related to the history and promotion of the zipper, also known as the slide fastener (see figs.
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