Velcro Was Inspired By Dog Fur And Cockle-Burs

A Swiss engineer named Georges de Mestral went for a walk in the woods with his dog in 1941, and noticed burrs sticking to his trousers and dog. Inspired by the little stickers, Mestral spent eight years of research trying to synthetically recreate this bond. Finally, he was able to create one strip with thousands of little hooks and another strip with thousands of little loops to simulate the bond the burrs had with his clothing and pet in the woods. He named his invention Velcro (a combination of "velvet" and "crochet"), and patented it in 1955.

Velcro Makes the World Go Round!

Key Facts In This Video

  1. George de Mestral, born in 1907, invented Velcro. 00:07

  2. Velcro was inspired by burrs that stuck to his trousers and dog after a walk in the park. 00:22

  3. Velcro was named by combining the words "velvet" and "crochet." 00:48

Written by Curiosity Staff October 16, 2015
