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Velcro® Companies History and George de Mestral

Many people have wondered: Who invented VELCRO® Brand hook and loop? It began with a burdock burr, a tiny seed covered in hundreds of ‘hooks’ that naturally catch onto the microscopic loops that cover fur, hair and clothing. The burr was an unassuming marvel of nature and a minor headache for man, until one day in 1941 when the burdock burr, Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral, and his dog crossed paths on a hunting trip in the Alps.

Seventy years on, that chance meeting has proven to be remarkably fruitful.

Inspired by the burr, de Mestral created the world’s first hook-and-loop fastener. De Mestral originally envisioned VELCRO® Brand hook and loop as a fastener for clothing. Today it is being utilised across a wide range of industries, from healthcare to your garden shed to the military. While each VELCRO® Brand product is built for a specific task, the principal mechanics remain the same. Just think: the VELCRO® Brand solutions that keep your tablet device mounted to the wall are based on the same principles as the ones that NASA uses to keep their dinner plates from floating in zero gravity space.