Velcro USA Inc.

VELCRO® Brand products are well-loved around the world, adhering and fastening everything from roof panels to diapers, and known for their familiar and reassuring fastening sound. Hook and loop is part of our everyday language and indispensable to our daily lives. It’s omnipresent and is re-invented for new uses on a daily basis.

What has now become an integral part of popular culture, fashion and common home goods, was once invented on serendipity, inspired by a routine hike in the woods. In 1941, Swiss engineer and inventor George de Mestral was intrigued by the burdock burrs that kept sticking to his dog’s fur as they passed by the unique plants.

After years of investigating the burr’s properties, de Mestral translated those affixing and fastening functions into textiles, creating what we now know as “hook-and-loop.” However, the subsequent process of recreating a burr-like product that could be used in daily applications took nearly a decade.

The burdock burr contains hundreds of minuscule “hooks.” Developing a fabric that replicated these hook-shaped extensions proved difficult but de Mestral was determined. While the “loop” textile could be...