Velcro is trademarked

Sticky business

Known as the greatest fastening device that works quite well unless you get any fluff on it, the name Velcro was trademarked on this day in 1958. Of course, as every hideous pedant knows, Velcro is actually the name of the company that manufactures the hook and loop fasteners, which are officially known as ‘hook and loop fasteners’. Which doesn’t quite have the same ring.

You’ve never heard a disgruntled teenager bleat, ‘Oh mum, why have you got me hook and loop faster trainers. Everyone will beat me up’.Devised by Swiss engineer George de Mestral in 1941, it took years to convince anyone that this zipperless zipper could work. Possibly because he referred to it as a ‘zipperless zipper’ which could really be applied to anything on the planet that isn’t actually a zipper. According to Star Trek universe, velcro was actually invented by the Vulcans. Though this fact was featured in the Star Trek: Enterprise series, so it might not count.