What is a Velcro (hook and loop) made of?
What is a Velcro (hook and loop) made of?
Two nylon tapes — one of stiff hooks, one of soft loops — copied directly from burdock burrs.
George de Mestral got the idea in 1941 from picking burdock burrs out of his dog's coat after a walk in the Alps and looking at them under a microscope: each burr is covered in tiny hooks that catch on any loop of fur or fabric. It took him a decade of trial and error to work out how to weave and cut nylon hooks at scale, and he patented it in 1955. The name is a portmanteau of the French velours and crochet — velvet and hook — and it is a trademark, which is why the correct generic term is hook-and-loop. It fails by getting clogged with lint and hair, which fills the loops so the hooks have nothing to engage.
Component by component
| Part | Material | Why that material |
|---|---|---|
| hook tape | nylon monofilament woven into loops, then cut and heat-set into hooks | Nylon holds a moulded hook shape stiffly enough to catch and springs open to release without breaking. |
| loop tape | napped nylon or polyester multifilament loops | A soft, dense, randomly oriented pile means the hooks find something to grab whatever the angle. |
| backing | woven tape, sometimes with a pressure-sensitive adhesive or a knitted stretch base | The join between fastener and garment is where hook-and-loop usually fails, so the backing carries the load. |
| heavy-duty versions | polyester for UV resistance, or moulded polypropylene hooks | Nylon degrades in sunlight and absorbs water; outdoor and marine versions swap it for polyester. |
Other clothing and kit objects
- Leather Animal hide whose collagen has been chemically stabilised so it cannot rot — usually with chromium salts.
- Gore-Tex A stretched PTFE membrane whose pores are far too small for a raindrop and far too big for a water vapour molecule.
- Denim A cotton twill with indigo-dyed warp and undyed weft — the dye sits on the fibre surface, which is why it fades.
- Helmet A hard shell to spread the blow over a crushable polystyrene foam liner that is destroyed by one impact.
- Bulletproof vest Many layers of woven aramid or polyethylene fibre that catch and deform a bullet; rifle threats need a ceramic plate.
- Zip (zipper) Teeth of metal, moulded acetal or nylon coil on a polyester tape, forced together by a wedge inside the slider.
- Synthetic leather A polyurethane or PVC skin on a textile backing — including the plant-based ones, which still need a plastic binder.
- Running shoe A knitted synthetic upper over a foam midsole and rubber outsole — about a dozen materials, all glued together.
- Shoe sole A rubber outsole for grip, a foam midsole for cushioning, and increasingly no clean way to separate them.
- Wetsuit Closed-cell neoprene foam full of nitrogen bubbles, faced with stretch jersey — the gas insulates, not the water.
- Life jacket Closed-cell foam or a CO2-inflated bladder, in a nylon cover — rated in newtons of buoyancy, not in size.
- Button Usually cast polyester resin; the good ones are shell, nut or horn, and you can tell by touch and temperature.
Common questions
- What is a Velcro (hook and loop) made of?
- Two nylon tapes — one of stiff hooks, one of soft loops — copied directly from burdock burrs.
- What is the hook tape of a Velcro (hook and loop) made of?
- Nylon monofilament woven into loops, then cut and heat-set into hooks. Nylon holds a moulded hook shape stiffly enough to catch and springs open to release without breaking.
- What is the loop tape of a Velcro (hook and loop) made of?
- Napped nylon or polyester multifilament loops. A soft, dense, randomly oriented pile means the hooks find something to grab whatever the angle.
Related pages
- Leather Animal hide whose collagen has been chemically stabilised so it cannot rot — usually with chromium salts.
- Gore-Tex A stretched PTFE membrane whose pores are far too small for a raindrop and far too big for a water vapour molecule.
- Denim A cotton twill with indigo-dyed warp and undyed weft — the dye sits on the fibre surface, which is why it fades.
- Helmet A hard shell to spread the blow over a crushable polystyrene foam liner that is destroyed by one impact.
- Bulletproof vest Many layers of woven aramid or polyethylene fibre that catch and deform a bullet; rifle threats need a ceramic plate.
- Zip (zipper) Teeth of metal, moulded acetal or nylon coil on a polyester tape, forced together by a wedge inside the slider.
- Synthetic leather A polyurethane or PVC skin on a textile backing — including the plant-based ones, which still need a plastic binder.
- Running shoe A knitted synthetic upper over a foam midsole and rubber outsole — about a dozen materials, all glued together.
- Pencil Stationery and paper
- Tennis ball Sport and games
- Banknote Around the house
- Golf ball Sport and games
- Paper Stationery and paper
- Glass Building materials
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place