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> That incremental progress mirrors YKK’s founding philosophy, the “Cycle of Goodness.” The principle—that no one prospers without benefiting others—has suppose

> That incremental progress mirrors YKK’s founding philosophy, the “Cycle of Goodness.” The principle—that no one prospers without benefiting others—has supposedly guided the company for decades. It’s visible in its other micro-improvements: corrosion-resistant alloys, sound-dampened sliders, recyclable polyester tapes. AiryString continues that tradition, shrinking the zipper’s physical and environmental footprint at once. This is alien to SF AI startups and patent trolls.

ardit33 1y ago
not a productive comment. The web is made and run by myriad of frameworks, that were developed open source by startups, or folks that worked in tech that wanted to improve things bit by bit and wanted to share to the community. Tech in general is the much more open industry compared to any other (cars, biotech, etc), and it is uniquely where closed sourced frameworks have a har time to succeed.
kakacik 1y ago
None of them will be around for long, and if yes only by pure unintended accident. But dont blame the participants, they fight for money in system setup for them. If people will reward clearly more moral businesses, over time even the most hardened sociopath will pick up the cues. If you want to hate something, hate how uncaring an average person is, driven by simple, easy to manipulate emotions, not fighting primal urges even if they drive them off the cliff, or even caring more deeply about themselves, who they are and where they go.
- XenophileJKO 1y ago
  Isn't it kind of the opposite? Taking a ethical stance is often superficially suboptimal at maximizing personal value. Obviously moral frameworks vary by culture, but commonly involve setting aside some amount of self interest. The same is true of a business, primarily driven by the executives and carried out by rank and file.
edelbitter 1y ago
Having your customers suddenly require proprietary machinery (only sold/licensed by you) to unlock the full potential of your upgraded product line.. does seem compatible with the SF startup way of thinking.
- dingnuts 1y ago
  yes, and the fact that the article brushes over this and is so breathless -- it's an ad, right? My first question was: if they remove the tape, how do you affix it to the garment? and you're right, the article glides over the fact that this company, which is largely a monopoly, is creating garments that will apparently require a proprietary device to repair. It's like a Juicero ad, but for your fly. I'm good.
  - calmworm 1y ago
    But its not anything like a Juicero ad is it? They are not halting production on all other zippers or charging you a monthly zipper refill fee… but adding a new product line with more and different possible uses. An innovative new design for a product most don’t think twice about. It’s pretty cool, really.
- beloch 1y ago
  It will be interesting to see what they do next. The SF approach would be to lock down every aspect of the new zippers with as much proprietary BS as possible for as long as possible, charging high fees the whole time and quite likely causing relatively poor market penetration. Relatively few people will pay $50 extra for a thinner zipper on a typical jacket. To combat this, one SF approach might be to pump out ads and branding to to make the new zipper a status symbol. e.g. Will we start to see fashion designers paid to highlight the new zippers on their products rather than hiding them behind flaps or in folds? Are Brando biker jackets about to trend again? On the other hand, YKK might simply do what they've been doing for the last century: Obliterate the competition by doing what they do better and cheaper. This is how they took the market from manufacturer's like Talon. They might maintain control of their new zipper tech with patents, etc., but they might also make the tooling affordable and try to maximize uptake by manufacturers. I have a vintage reproduction of a 1920's cafe racer with a Talon zipper on it. That thing needs to be babied. Zip it up wrong and the slide will bend, teeth will stop engaging, etc.. If you want a jacket that you'll think twice about zipping up (e.g. "Am I really so cold it's worth it?"), get something with a vintage Talon zipper. The first thing that stood out to me as a falsehood in this article was the claim that this is the first upgrade to the zipper in a century. YKK has been quietly making them better and better that whole time.
deleted 1y ago
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ardit33 1y ago

not a productive comment. The web is made and run by myriad of frameworks, that were developed open source by startups, or folks that worked in tech that wanted to improve things bit by bit and wanted to share to the community. Tech in general is the much more open industry compared to any other (cars, biotech, etc), and it is uniquely where closed sourced frameworks have a har time to succeed.

kakacik 1y ago

None of them will be around for long, and if yes only by pure unintended accident. But dont blame the participants, they fight for money in system setup for them. If people will reward clearly more moral businesses, over time even the most hardened sociopath will pick up the cues. If you want to hate something, hate how uncaring an average person is, driven by simple, easy to manipulate emotions, not fighting primal urges even if they drive them off the cliff, or even caring more deeply about themselves, who they are and where they go.

XenophileJKO 1y ago
Isn't it kind of the opposite? Taking a ethical stance is often superficially suboptimal at maximizing personal value. Obviously moral frameworks vary by culture, but commonly involve setting aside some amount of self interest. The same is true of a business, primarily driven by the executives and carried out by rank and file.

edelbitter 1y ago

Having your customers suddenly require proprietary machinery (only sold/licensed by you) to unlock the full potential of your upgraded product line.. does seem compatible with the SF startup way of thinking.

dingnuts 1y ago
yes, and the fact that the article brushes over this and is so breathless -- it's an ad, right? My first question was: if they remove the tape, how do you affix it to the garment? and you're right, the article glides over the fact that this company, which is largely a monopoly, is creating garments that will apparently require a proprietary device to repair. It's like a Juicero ad, but for your fly. I'm good.
- calmworm 1y ago
  But its not anything like a Juicero ad is it? They are not halting production on all other zippers or charging you a monthly zipper refill fee… but adding a new product line with more and different possible uses. An innovative new design for a product most don’t think twice about. It’s pretty cool, really.
beloch 1y ago
It will be interesting to see what they do next. The SF approach would be to lock down every aspect of the new zippers with as much proprietary BS as possible for as long as possible, charging high fees the whole time and quite likely causing relatively poor market penetration. Relatively few people will pay $50 extra for a thinner zipper on a typical jacket. To combat this, one SF approach might be to pump out ads and branding to to make the new zipper a status symbol. e.g. Will we start to see fashion designers paid to highlight the new zippers on their products rather than hiding them behind flaps or in folds? Are Brando biker jackets about to trend again? On the other hand, YKK might simply do what they've been doing for the last century: Obliterate the competition by doing what they do better and cheaper. This is how they took the market from manufacturer's like Talon. They might maintain control of their new zipper tech with patents, etc., but they might also make the tooling affordable and try to maximize uptake by manufacturers. I have a vintage reproduction of a 1920's cafe racer with a Talon zipper on it. That thing needs to be babied. Zip it up wrong and the slide will bend, teeth will stop engaging, etc.. If you want a jacket that you'll think twice about zipping up (e.g. "Am I really so cold it's worth it?"), get something with a vintage Talon zipper. The first thing that stood out to me as a falsehood in this article was the claim that this is the first upgrade to the zipper in a century. YKK has been quietly making them better and better that whole time.

deleted 1y ago

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