How it all began

The story of the discovery of hook and loop fasteners begins with George de Mestral taking a walk through the countryside.

The Swiss engineer enjoyed hunting. One morning in 1941, while returning from the fields with his dog, he noticed how difficult it was to detach the flowers of the mountain thistle from his trousers and his dog’s fur.

Surprised at the tenacity of the flowers, he removed them carefully from his clothing so that he could observe them under a microscope. It was then that he discovered why they clung on so ardently: the flowers were covered in hundreds of tiny but strong hooks and where thus able to attach themselves to animal fur and fabric.

George de Mestral, an experienced inventor, was able to see the potential of this discovery and developed it into an idea that, with much time and effort, would become a revolutionary fastening system that never jammed, and whose simplicity and strength superseded all previous systems.

Created from the first syllables of the French words velours (loop) and crochet (hook), the VELCRO® brand name has since 1958 been given to an extensive range of products that have greatly simplified fastening and closure operations.