The difference between a smooth opening bag
and one that gets stuck has a lot to do
with the finish of the chain and the quality of the head.
From luxury bags to our everyday products, zippers truly connect our world.
But one thing you may not know is that zippers are extremely hard to make,
which is why this zipper manufacturer is one of the last ones in America.
Zippers were invented in America in the early 1900s,
and until about 30 years ago, numerous manufacturers existed in the USA,
but were driven out
by overseas competitors that were then undercutting them with lower prices.
Why is it that this one company in this factory in downtown L.A.
still exists?
Let's find out.
one thing separating this company is the way
they make their luxury line of zippers right here, literally from the ground up.
But you guys see in my hand right now is the zipper teeth that get attached to tape
and everything is customized according to the customer's needs.
And it all happens right inside of this factory.
What we start with is downstairs, we have our tapes that we die,
and depending
on the customer specification of the G2, we have the different types of teeth,
whether they are the nickel finish, the brass finish,
all the different finishes that we provide.
And this machine is
what actually runs and assemble the teeth one by one onto the zipper tape.
Wow. Literally putting it one by one.
Yeah, so as it comes down, the track here goes and says little crimping part,
and it's like tripping on one by one, right?
It's like a little army of ants like.
Exactly, exactly like they're all following this little thing here,
and we can adjust the speed to make it faster, slower.
But this is just to give you an idea of the basic process of how we do this.
Oh, this is really cool.
So since we want to take you guys behind the scenes of how a zipper is done a to Z
as we're going to show you guys a really intricate way
of how they're most complicated, the zipper gets made after he made the zipper.
We join it together.
You kind of inspect all the teeth, make sure it's there.
Now this one will actually size it to the customer length.
And how is it doing that? Is it punching it?
Or so it'll pass the teeth out
so you can see how it gets out that little section there
and that will size it to face off or whatever size the specification is.
So we're going to be making the open ended, we're going to make it.
So this was going to be set for a separate zipper.
So we'll we'll follow this through the production
to give you an idea of how we do that.
So this next process that Ava is going to show us here
is what we call a heat seal tape.
This is a what we call the second quarter of the zipper.
So this is very flimsy.
So we can't put all of the other components on there
unless we strengthen this up.
So you can see here now that little tape comes in,
and that's what's going to strengthen at center court here.
So it adds rigidity to that without peace there.
And again, all these processes we've got, regardless of the G two or our
basic zipper nylon coil zipper, it has a similar assembly process.
So if we're going to make a separate using my.
So this is what's called T punch
and this will actually punch a little area or it looks like a seal right now.
This McCain is punching, if they call it T, three times that there
and there's two
punch allows them to start the next part of the process.
So this is our opinion box.
This is where those components go.
When you start the jacket so you can see the
inside and the backside side of the pin is what you
slide into that box and you'll see it at the same time.
I love how all these little components are coming together at a at a time that
there's not a lot of unity in the world, but there's unity and zipper.
You try to zip the world together with the zippers, a different world together.
You can't do it.
You can, you can not.
The zippers are assembled.
The last part of the process is to fix the zipper heads.
The G2 zipper line has to be hands on in order to protect the metal
finish that makes this a luxury line of zippers.
Once the pin box is done,
the zippers get individually cut in the final part of the zipper
making process involves a fixing the zipper heads by hand at this part.
They also do a quality control test to make sure
everything functions as designed.
The G2 line of zippers requires a production slowdown
in order to ensure a quality finish and an artisan feel.
Look at this thing that one probably did and pass inspection, but right here
what they're doing is essentially looking at the different work orders and making
sure that they came out according to the specs that the customer provided .
So you guys can see there's different colors here.
You got more of the classics.
Everything is being bundled up, put into packaging.
So whether it's three feet, three inches or in this case, 100 inch zipper,
this company can really do it all in right in front of me.
Right here, you guys can see different colors of zippers.
So right now you may be wondering how is it that they create different
colored zippers?
Let's jump into the science of this and find out.
So this whole machine here used to be the brain
and operation of getting custom colors to match customers request.
This computer back here
used to run the operation and it used to run in Windows 1.5.
So today they've got a little bit different system that's advanced
and technology that helps them match custom colors using things such as PGMs.
Color codes allows them to match the specific customers request.
So as you guys see right here
with this different type of tape, there's a lot of different types of blues.
So if you're a customer and you're wondering, Hey, I got this nice
denim fabric, and I also want this white tape
to match this denim fabric.
The process of dying and matching colors is something that this company creates
in order to make customers happy all over the world.
So let's show you guys how they go about this and show you how
colors can really be subjective and how the team here helps
you create the colors that you need for your products
in order to get the fabric mesh as a customer request.
They use a spectrometer
which reads the pigments of the fabric that's inserted inside.
This machine takes an image of the fabric that you insert,
which is then read by the computer and you're given a code to create the dye
that you need to match.
In this example, we have a royal blue fabric,
and although the software may provide us with potential matches for this color,
it takes a skilled technician to decide on the best mix to match this crazy guy.
So even after he gets the formulation from the spectrometer,
it just gives them some options.
And then he has to go ahead and say, You know what?
It looks a little bit more like this one.
So again, color really can be subjective.
It could really depend on what really matches the eye.
So ultimately, it's up for the customer to decide what shade of blue
they might like.
With this code,
we now go to the next part of the process, which is where the magic of color
mixing happens on a small batch before it gets thrown into mass production.
Plus, they will then follow the formula and add the pigments to the bucket.
A really cool fact is that it takes
25 pigments to virtually create almost any color that you can imagine.
This is an exact science, though, and it requires a stable hand
in a controlled environment to ensure it meets specifications during production
in order to prepare the zippers
for dyeing the changes to be coiled up and secured to the circular metal tubes.
This area right here, what they're doing
is they're pulling up the chain according to the amount maximum amount
that's allowed in order for it to be properly died.
This machine is counting out the yardage and they have to be aware
of the weight in order for the for the dye to really adhere.
I can work for this.
But with the zipper coils
pulled up in the formulation of the dye on hand, it's time to paint on the fabric.
To me, this opened my eyes as to why
companies have minimum order quantities for custom production of zipper runs.
The time, experience and equipment needed for this is no joke.
So right now, what we're doing is loading up the raw materials,
the under materials, and we're about to put the special batch
that we've created for of our nails that go up to the royal.
We got to tighten these rolls up so they're secured for the dyeing process.
With this special pipe hose answers, the spools are locked and ready to go.
And once the day is filled up, the barrel is closed and it's pressurized
to work its way into the zippers.
On this last machine, we did three rows at a time, but you can.
Zippers has other tanks that can fill up to twelve rolls at a time,
yielding thousands of yards of zippers every single hour.
Now, let's check out the final products. I'm all familiar.
And these
ones that we're taking out are completed, and now it's going to go
hang to dry in order for it to be ready to go to the next part of the process.
Finish roles that come after dying if they're approved at the colors, right?
Everything looks good.
Then there's spooled into this dryer that then essentially irons it out,
so it becomes a nice flat seam while protecting the coil.
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The man seems, as always, a jokester, but for real, let's get into the process
of how they die the zipper heads in order to match the tape and chain.
So we got the color all dyed and ready to go.
Now he needs to match the actual zipper heads, the sliders
that are going to go on this tape.
Once the paint is mixed, they bring it over to this light box
that mimics true
daylight to ensure that the colors match the specifications given to them.
Like we mentioned before, color matching is truly an art, and it's subjective
between the person mixing the colors and the customer who approves them once
the paint is properly matched and is now prepped for the spray gun.
Not the paint is ready.
The raw zipper heads are stored
inside of this drum that rolls around, so the paint is evenly applied to them.
So now that the zipper heads are painted, I want to take you guys next door
and show you how the plastic molds are created.
That is, zipper fabric is one aspect of adding color to a zipper.
The next isn't dying.
The chain from the color codes that were approved
there will be adding dye to the plastic pellets,
which will melt and create the teeth you see on the zipper,
with the pellets not mixed with the pigment.
The bag is entered into the top of this machine,
which will then be injected through it. And finally,
it will stamp out the required length depending on the specifications.
Man manufacturing
zippers from metal chain to these plastic molded ones
truly does require attention to detail in order
to have a great customer experience for the people that are ordering them.
This company started with humble beginnings by Paul,
who was Melanie's father
who bought this business from his partners and then expanded it during the 1980s.
He found himself in a difficult situation when most manufacturing left
America in the mid-nineties due to heavy competition from overseas competitors.
But Paul was able to adapt by keeping his customer in mind
and allowing them to customize luxury
zippers and ways that overseas competitors were not able to.
This meant investing into machinery, opening a dye house
and remaining flexible to the needs of businesses in America.
So let's find out what the future holds.
You know, my father started the business,
and the idea that he had in mind always was to service people.
And as we continue to serve people,
I think the company kind of sustains itself.
So we've been looking
at really calculated partnerships that we have with our supply chain.
We've been looking at ways to make things a little more efficient
in order to better serve our customers.
You know, ultimately,
we always try to look at different things to make things better here.
But it comes back to that service core that my father
founded here at this company.
And as we serve the people,
we give them what they need quickly with the quality that they expect from us.
They will continue to buy from us and that keeps the business moving forward.
Which type of customers do you guys love to do business with or
what kind of customer streaming service?
Oh, we were a small business at one point, and as we kind of grew,
we've seen our customers,
you know, kind of the same model with them, their small businesses.
And as they grow, we grow as well.
So the kind of customers
that we like to deal with are the customers that we have
a good, strong relationship with, that we can kind of grow with them over the years
so it can be small to be big.
We've done things for big retailers, we've done things for the government.
So we've done small volume, large volume.
But ultimately, the customers that we have today are the ones that stay with us,
that we just have that really good relationship.
So as they change their models and change their needs,
we're able to change with them.
And that's the kind of relationship that we've had with these customers
and those are the customers that we do enjoy working for.
Throughout this video, we showed you guys how intricate
it is to really manufacture zippers, and it becomes clear
why this is one of the last places that is doing it like this in America.
It's not only a complicated and an intricate manufacturing process.
It truly takes passion and a desire to innovate in order to stay in this game
as everybody else moves overseas to try to compete on prices.
We personally use this brand for a different product lines
that we've created,
and we can personally vouch for the quality and fast turnaround time
that they have.
So if you're an entrepreneur or a designer that's looking to create products,
make sure you guys
check out the links down below in order to check out our full selection
right in front of me.
Right now, you guys can see the different types
of finishes that they have on their G2 line,
such as the matte look, as well as a custom zipper head.
They could truly create almost anything that you guys need.
So if you're a new business for this channel,
make sure you guys consider subscribing
and turning on this post on bells to be alerted.
A future video drops on the next one.
We continue to expand on how these zippers and how companies
such as this are innovating the cotton.
So game on this channel, our mission is to bring clarity to business
and help entrepreneurs build brands that impact the world from the ground up.
We'll see you guys in the next one.