Wide World of Velcro

On behalf of kindergarteners everywhere…Thank you George de Mestral

On this day in 1955, Swiss inventor George de Mestral received the U.S. patent for Velcro. Upon his return from a walk in the early 1940s, de Mestral noticed that cockleburs were stuck to his pants and his dog’s coat. The curious inventor examined the burrs under a microscope to discover their construction; when he noticed the hook shaped prongs, he was inspired to invent a new fastening device. One side had soft loops, just like the fabric of his pants, and the other side was a pattern of stiff hooks, similar to those that de Mestral had observed under his microscope. The resulting product was Velcro, from the French words “velour” and “crochet.”