Except that doesn't seem to reliably be the case any more. It used to be - the sleeping bag, Levi's or leather jacket would fail or become threadbare long befor

Except that doesn't seem to reliably be the case any more. It used to be - the sleeping bag, Levi's or leather jacket would fail or become threadbare long before the zip. For all intents and purposes they didn't fail. When one did it was exceptional. Now it is far from uncommon for a YKK zip to fail long before the item. Presumably they've been as keen to reduce quality down to a price as most everyone else, by trading on the brand name rather than the actual quality that built that name. Or maybe Levi's or whoever are specifying the next cheapest zip down. They still do better than the unbranded, but that is a pretty low bar.