Short answer
Who invented Velcro? George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer. In 1941, after a hunting trip in the Alps, he found burdock burrs stuck to his clothes and his dog’s coat, and under a microscope saw that they were covered in tiny hooks. Copying the idea in a durable material took years, and he patented the hook-and-loop fastener in 1955.
Key takeaways
- Velcro was invented by George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, inspired by burdock burrs that stuck to his clothes and his dog’s coat on a trip in 1941.
- Under a microscope, he saw that the burrs were covered in tiny hooks that caught on loops of fabric and fur.
- Making it work took years: cotton wore out too quickly, and the answer turned out to be nylon.
- He received his patent in 1955; the name combines the French words velours (velvet) and crochet (hook).
- NASA did not invent Velcro, but used it in the Apollo program, which made it famous.
Velcro is one of the best-known examples of an invention copied from nature, and also one of the most misunderstood. Many people believe it was invented for the space program. It was not; the space program simply made it famous.
A walk with the dog
In 1941, George de Mestral went on a hunting trip in the Alpine countryside with his dog. When they came back, both were covered in burdock burrs, the spiky seed heads that cling to anything that brushes past them.
Many people would have simply pulled them off. De Mestral looked at them under a microscope. He saw that the burrs were covered in thousands of tiny hooks, which caught on the loops of thread in his clothing and the hair in his dog’s fur. Nature had already designed a fastener; the question was whether it could be copied.
Years of trial and error
The idea was simple: one strip of fabric with tiny hooks, another with tiny loops, pressed together to hold and pulled apart to open. Making it work was not.
De Mestral worked with a textile manufacturer in France. The first attempts used cotton, which wore out too quickly; the hooks lost their shape after a few uses. Through trial and error, he found that nylon was durable enough to hold its shape through repeated fastening. The development took nearly a decade, and at first few people took him seriously.
The patent and the name
The patent was granted in 1955. De Mestral named his invention by combining two French words: velours, velvet, and crochet, hook. The result, Velcro, became a brand name, and in many countries it is still used for any hook-and-loop fastener.
The NASA myth
Velcro is often said to have been invented by NASA. It was not. The patent predates the American space program. What is true is that NASA became interested in the fastener in the early 1960s, because it was useful in zero gravity, where loose objects float away. Astronauts used it to secure equipment, and the crews of Apollo 15, 16 and 17 used it to hold snack pouches and drink bags inside the neck rings of their suits.
The association with space made Velcro seem futuristic, and the story that NASA invented it has been repeated ever since.
Record or legend?
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| Inspired by burrs on a trip with his dog in 1941 | Record |
| Patented in 1955 | Record |
| The name comes from velours and crochet | Record |
| Invented by NASA | Myth; NASA adopted it in the 1960s |
What the story tells us
Velcro is a good example of the difference between noticing and inventing. Countless people had pulled burrs off their clothes before 1941. De Mestral asked why they stuck, looked closely enough to find out, and then spent years solving the less romantic problem of making the idea durable and cheap. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990, the year he died, at 82.
Another invention born from close observation of something ordinary is the microwave oven. See Who Invented the Microwave?, or explore Inventions & Discoveries.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented Velcro?
George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, who patented it in 1955.
What inspired Velcro?
Burdock burrs that stuck to de Mestral’s clothes and his dog’s coat after a trip in 1941. Under a microscope, he saw they were covered in tiny hooks.
Did NASA invent Velcro?
No. Velcro was patented in 1955, before the space program. NASA adopted it in the 1960s and used it during the Apollo missions.
What does the name Velcro mean?
It combines the French words “velours” (velvet) and “crochet” (hook).