Hook and eye
People have been hooking up their clothes for hundreds of years. In the 1300s, hook-andeye fasteners were known as “crochet and loop” (crochet is French for “hook”), and the simple yet effective design hasn’t changed much since. Hook-and-eye fasteners lent their support to the world’s first brassieres, or bras, which were invented in the 1400s. Most of today’s bras still use them.
Safety pin
Brooches were used to fasten clothes more than a thousand years before the invention of the safety pin in 1849. American inventor Walter Hunt’s design improved on the brooch: It was made from a single piece of wire for easy manufacture, it used a coil in the wire rather than a hinge, and the clasp fastened the pin and shielded the user’s fingers at the same time. It was simplE, yEt Brilliant.
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A zipper’s teeth are brought together and locked into place by the slider.
