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University of Akron takes name for teams
By Mark J. Price
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Mar 31, 2008
Unfortunately, salesmen weren't sold on the product's suggested name: the Mystik Boot.
It just wasn't snappy enough.
''What we need is an action word,'' Goodrich President Bertram G. Work (1868-1927) told a group of sales representatives. ''Something that will dramatize the way the thing zips.''
Wait a second. That was it.
''Why not call it the Zipper?'' he said.
Goodrich trademarked the Zipper Boot, and it became a hot seller for the company.
Through common usage, the name eventually transferred to the metal fastener itself and became a generic word.
Akron didn't invent the zipper. We did, however, give it a big tug.
Frederick H. Martin, manager of footwear development for Goodrich, stumbled across the slide fastener in 1920 when he attended a leather style show in New York.
He passed a cigarette stand one day and noticed the innovative seals on pouches of tobacco. Martin wondered if Goodrich could apply the technology to rubber overshoes.
Before returning to Akron, he made a trip to the Hookless Fastener Co. in Meadville, Pa.
In 1917, Hookless engineer Gideon Sundback had patented the ''Separable Fastener,'' an interlocking device that historians credit as the modern zipper. It was an improvement over Chicago inventor Whitcomb L. Judson's ''Clasp Locker,'' which used a hook-and-eye system.
Martin toured the plant and brought back a few samples of Hookless Fastener No. 2 with him to Akron.
James W. Schaade, general manager of the Goodrich footwear department, was enthusiastic about Martin's boot idea and put a team to work on it. They enlisted the aid of Hookless engineers, who visited Akron and offered suggestions.
The men developed rubber compounds and tried out different sizes of fasteners. Workers put on overshoes and splashed around to see how the top-secret prototypes performed.
The boots had to be rugged and waterproof, yet snug and cozy. The slide fasteners had to be sturdy and secure, yet simple and smooth.
Finally, after two years of experiments, the galoshes won approval.
Goodrich received exclusive rights to apply slide fasteners to rubber overshoes. The Akron company ordered tens of thousands of fasteners, forcing the Pennsylvania plant to add two work shifts.
Thanks to President Work's suggestion, the name changed from Mystik to Zipper just before the galoshes went into production.
''The Zipper Boot is a marvel of comfort and smartness,'' the company advertised in 1923. ''It is worn right over your shoes or slippers. On and off in a jiffy — nothing to button, hook, lace or tie. The Hookless Fastener — exclusive on Zipper footwear — does the trick. A little pull of the tab and ZIP!''
Another early advertisement featured Paramount Pictures actress Bebe Daniels demonstrating the elegance of Goodrich's boots. The Zippers could fit over dainty slippers, street shoes or dancing pumps, providing protection against wet weather.
The footwear provided ''a touch of style and individuality that makes every lady and miss want a pair,'' the ad explained in the Saturday Evening Post.
Public demand was immediate and intense. Goodrich sold nearly 500,000 pairs of Zipper Boots in the first year, prompting the company to offer a variety of styles and sizes ''for men, women and the kiddies.''
Applied to all sorts of clothing, the zipper's popularity spread around the world. Sales skyrocketed for the Hookless Fastener Co, which became the nation's leading zipper manufacturer and later changed its name to Talon International Inc.
The Goodrich footwear was so popular that it even spawned a sports franchise in Northeast Ohio.
In 1925, the University of Akron held a campus contest to come up with an official name for the school's athletic teams.
Freshman Margaret Hamlin won a $10 prize after students voted for her unique suggestion — the Zippers — inspired by Goodrich's galoshes.
The Akron Zippers played for nearly 25 years before the university decided to shorten the name to the Akron Zips in 1950. The school's kangaroo mascot, Zippy, proudly wore a zippered pouch.
The Zips, Zippy, the Acme-Zip Game, WZIP, the Zip Strip, Zip Cards — they all owe their names to a spiffy pair of rubber galoshes.
No, Akron didn't invent the zipper. You might say, though, that this was the first place where it ''stuck.''
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send e-mail to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
Get the full article here.
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