Velcro
InventorGeorge de Mestral
Year1955
CategoryClothing
OriginSwitzerland
About Velcro
De Mestral, a Swiss engineer, noticed burrs clinging to his dog after a walk in the Alps in 1941 and studied them under a microscope, finding tiny hooks. He patented the hook and loop fastener in 1955, naming it from the French words velours and crochet. NASA used it in the Apollo program to keep objects in place. It now fastens everything from shoes to blood pressure cuffs.