As grandkids are prone to do, they usually leave something behind when they visit. Not long ago, I ran across a pair of tennis shoes. I noticed that they didn’t have laces — they used Velcro. II appears that even a lot of adult tennis shoes use Velcro instead of laces this days.
I got to wondering how somebody came up with the idea of this “hook and eye” material.
When I looked into it I found a pretty cool story…..
Swiss mountaineer George de Mestral was out hiking with his Irish pointer one day in 1948 when he noticed little burrs sticking to his pants and clinging to his dog’s fur. The burrs that clung so tightly inspired de Menstral to go home and examine the burrs under a microscope. He noticed hundreds of little hooks clinging to the fabric. That led him to think he might be on to something that would replace the zipper — funny how some minds work. The idea “stuck” in his head and a number of years later he had it patented — in 1955. It took a few years for the public to get “hooked,” but eventually it became popular. His invention was given the name Velcro — a combination of the words “velvet” and “crochet” — and became a multi-million dollar industry.
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Wow! Always wondered about that but never looked it up! Thanks!