This is a blog post about the ultimate guide to handbag zippers, which provides a comprehensive introduction to the function, structure, and types of zippers. VIBAMA summarizes its more than 10 years of production experience and lists the most commonly used zippers in the handbag industry.
Whether you are a handbag designer, consumer, or craft lover, the content of this article will play an important role in your understanding of handbag zippers. Let’s learn together.
Zipper Function
The zipper on the handbag has two main functions, closure, and decoration.
Closure: which can also be called connection here, is mainly to connect two pieces of material through zipper, to achieve the effect of closure.
Decoration: that is, using the zipper as a decoration on the handbag. For decorative purposes, the back of the zipper is usually covered by a piece of material rather than a pocket.
Zipper Structure
A complete zipper usually consists of the following parts, tapes, teeth, slider, puller, and stops.
Tape: Zipper tape is made of fabric and attached to both sides of the zipper teeth. Usually, it can be one color or mixed colors.
Slider: The slider, also known as the zipper switch, is made of plastic or metal and is the main part of the zipper, which controls the opening and closing of the zipper teeth.
Stops: Stops are small plastic or metal pieces placed at the ends of the zipper to keep the slider from falling out. Some zippers have no stops.
Teeth: Zipper teeth, also known as elements, are generally made of nylon, plastic, or metal, and are distributed on both sides of the zipper. The opening and closing of the zipper teeth can be controlled by pulling the slider back and forth.
Puller: The puller or pull tab is the small handle on the slider that is part of the slider. We separate it from the slider here because customers can order the slider without the puller, or engrave their LOGO on the puller if the design requires it.
Closure: which can also be called connection here, is mainly to connect two pieces of material through zipper, to achieve the effect of closure.
Decoration: that is, using the zipper as a decoration on the handbag. For decorative purposes, the back of the zipper is usually covered by a piece of material rather than a pocket.
Puller Type
More than 90% of pull tabs are made of metal. Customers can paste their brand LOGO on the pull tab, thereby enhancing the grade of the entire handbag. Some customers don’t like metal pull tabs. Through a small D ring and PU strips, a special PU pull tab is made, which is also a delicate approach.
Zipper Type
Nylon Zipper/Coil Zipper
A nylon zipper, also known as a coil zipper, refers to a zipper whose chain teeth are wound with nylon. This type of zipper can be easily bent out of shape, so it is widely used in the handbag industry.
Nylon zippers come in a variety of colors. Customers can choose nylon zippers of different colors to match handbags of different colors according to their requirements.
Resin Zipper/Plastic Zipper
A resin zipper, also known as a plastic zipper, refers to a zipper whose chain teeth are made of plastic, arranged on both sides and the teeth are crossed tightly. The resin zipper can be painted in various colors on the tooth surface according to the needs. It has a small flaw: after long-term use, the material on the surface of the tooth will peel off, causing it to lose its original color.
Metal Zipper
Metal zipper refers to the zipper whose teeth are composed of multiple small metal pieces, arranged on both sides, and the teeth cross tightly and bite together.
Common metal zipper colors are gunmetal, bronze, silver, and light gold. The color mentioned here refers to the tooth color of the zipper.
Invisible Zipper
The teeth of the invisible zipper are usually made of nylon, so the invisible zipper can be regarded as a kind of nylon zipper. It refers to a zipper in which the teeth are hidden under the zipper tape.
Zipper Length
Continuous Zipper
A continuous zipper refers to a zipper that has no beginning and end and is generally a roll of tens to hundreds of yards. This kind of zipper has no slider and stops, you can cut the length of the zipper according to your needs, and then install the slider.
When making a handbag, you’ll need to either sew the ends of the continuous zipper to the material or give it a stop so the slider doesn’t come off.
Finished Zipper
A finished zipper is a cut-to-length zipper that contains all zipper parts, such as tape, teeth, slider, and stop.
Finished zippers can be divided into split zippers (separating zippers) and non-split zippers (non-separating zippers). Their main difference is whether the zipper tape can be separated into two parts.
Zipper Sizes
The size of the zipper is based on the approximate width of the zipper teeth when closed. If the zipper tooth width is about 5mm when it is closed, we call it a #5 zipper, and so on.
Common zipper sizes are #3, #5, #8 and 10#. The higher the number, the wider the zipper teeth and vice versa.