Army Cuts the Velcro
by Mike Krumboltz
In a move that has the Web buzzing, the U.S. Army has decided to banish Velcro from uniform pants and bring back buttons.
Replacing the fastener on uniforms isn't your traditional front-page news, but the shift has captured the attention of many. A buzzy article from USA Today explains that soldiers told their superiors that the Velcro's stickiness was being affected by the sand of the Afghanistan desert. Pockets weren't staying shut.
The Army surveyed 2,700 soliders, and 60% of them said they would prefer buttons for their cargo pockets (only 11% wanted to "stick" with Velcro). Authorities listened, and now it looks like the old-fashioned button will be making a return.
The USA Today goes on to mention that the move back to buttons will end up saving the Army nearly $1 per uniform. There is at least one other huge benefit: Unlike Velcro, buttons don't make any noise. In times of conflict and danger, silence can be absolutely vital.
But don't feel too bad for Velcro. It isn't going away from the uniforms completely. It will still be on the sleeves, and under the soldier's nameplates.
Like Post-it Notes and other "Why didn't I think of that?" inventions, the hook and loop fastener has long captured the attention of Web searchers. Envious lookups for "velcro inventor" and "who invented velcro" are always popular in the Search box.
Here's the scoop. According to Idea Finder, Velcro was the creation of Swiss inventor George de Mestral. Back in 1948, he took a walk in the woods. Upon returning to his home, he noticed that a lot of burrs had attached themselves to his clothes. Eager to understand why, de Mestral examined the burrs under a microscope and saw how the tiny hooks on the burrs meshed with the loops of the fabric. From that stroll, a famous invention was born.
It took de Mestral many years to bring his idea to the masses. But he stuck with it, and eventually his baby changed the way NASA makes space suits and old people wear sneakers.
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