We recently added amazing YKK zippers to our shop (sized at 39cm and 44cm) and thought it might be a nice idea to have a blog post dedicated to zippers themselves!
These sewing notions are incredibly handy and are used on all kinds of projects from clothes to bags to cushion covers and more. Zippers themselves come in all kinds of sizes but have some very similar features from one zipper to the next so here are the names of different parts for reference:
Top Stop – these are the parts at the top of the zipper, that stops the slider from sliding off
Slider – this is the part you pull with to zip open/close
Teeth – these are the small puzzle-piece looking parts and are what the slider glides along; when the teeth are zipped together, you have what’s called the zipper chain
Tape – the material attached to the teeth
Insertion Pin – this is the part of the zipper that slots into the Retaining Box
Retaining Box – this is what holds the insertion pin, so that the zipper remains in position
You may also notice that zippers often feature a number. This is usually in reference to sizes. In terms of YKK VISLON® zippers, their standard sizes available are 5VS, 8VS, 10VS. VS refers to VISLON®, a material used by YKK in the making of some of their zippers. The numbers refer to the width of the zipper chain (that’s when the teeth are zipped together) in millimeters. Therefore, the sizes go 5mm, 8mm, 10mm in width (give or take a millimeter).
So if you’re looking for zips and other kawaii notions, check out the range we have in our kawaii shop! We’ve included here the 3 gorgeous colors we have of the YKK zips as well as a few others in our shop. We hope this has been helpful for you!
A helpful reference of the parts of zippers
A closeup of the top!
Our gorgeous YKK zippers!
sky blue YKK 39cm plastic zipper
YKK 39cm plastic zipper in hot pink
YKK 39cm green plastic zipper
white plastic sewing zipper
plastic resin zipper in pink
6 inch blue metal zipper
plastic zipper in light orange for sewing
7 inch taupe metal zipper