1948, and a Swiss mountaineer called George de Mestral was out walking through the woods. He returned home covered with burrs, the plant seed-sacs that ordinarily cling to animal fur, that also had attached themselves to his clothing.

Whilst picking them off, he realised that it may be possible to use this principle to make a fastener to compete with the zipper. Initially, as with most inventions, everyone laughed at his idea, except for a weaver at a textile plant in France.

Together, they designed what they called "locking tape". It was made from cotton. The biggest problem that they faced was mass-producing it. Sophisticated equipment was needed. Mestral searched for a solution and discovered that nylon, when sewn under infrared light, formed indestructible hooks. This discovery formed the basis of the solution they were looking for.

Once the product was designed the next problem was to find a name for it. He liked the sound of "vel" from velvet and "cro" from the French word crochet (meaning hook). And the name Velcro® stuck, just like those annoying burrs.

By the end of the 1950's, textile looms were churning out sixty million yards of Velcro a year. Just imagine the volumes produced today!