Why We Use YKK Zippers!

YKK zippers are known around the world for the best quality fasteners and they leave their competition in the dust.  There is NO close second when it comes to this company.  Steve's wife (Mei Lin) was in the garment business for many years and when they were manufacturing their first bass covers (the Tuff-Bag) almost 10 years ago, the factory owner making the covers commented:  "Let's use the Chinese zippers on these bags.  They are ok, they will be fine and your cases will be much cheaper." Steve thought, well ok, the prototype covers seems to open and close without any problems, so ok, yea, "let's do it", he said!  After all, it's just a freakin' zipper!  'No', said Mei Lin, 'go with the YKK and absolutely no substitutes!'  That boosted our pricing dramatically and Steve was shocked by how much a few of these Mercedes Benz BMW "Zippers" could cost.  No man, are you crazy??  She won (as she always does) and Steve took his prototype home (with the regular China zippers on his new cover).  It was fine he thought:  Zips fine!  Wow, he thought,  that was probably an un-needed upgrade, we could have saved so much money and be super competitive.  After all, no one else had or used these crazy, YKK's.  Then, without warning, the first zipper handle grip broke off of the proto cover after just 3 months.  Hmm, that was just a fluke, besides, I still have the other one on the other side. I can open and close with that one, but will just have to go all the way around the cover.  Then the other (spare) side soon broke and he then had a beautifully looking and well made cover, with no working zippers.  He learned his lesson:  Don't question Mei Lin (ever) on anything garment.  She knows what she's talking about!

Steve soon took that cover over to a shoe repairman and bought a nice (YKK) zipper to sew into it. Doing it later, after the fact, was WAY more than it would have been had it been done while the cover was made.  It was something like $50 plus the zipper! 10 years later, he still enjoys using that very same cover.  Yes, it was worth it. 

It's the small things in life that make the biggest differences and while one might think that we can 'get by' without them, it almost always turns into a bigger issue later.  So, we use YKK in our bass covers (in our famous Tuff-Bags), and our specially made, String Emporium® S.E. brand bow cases.  There is nothing more disappointing than paying good money for an expensive accessory and then having to replace the part or the entire accessory because of cheap shortcuts.   Our cases and our covers and anything else we make requiring a zipper, is YKK!  Yes, it's more, but it's way worth it.