The World’s Best Kept Secret
There’s a word that almost never gets uttered around the Signature Patches office. It’s a dark and foul word that brings hope to some, but leaves nothing but misery in its wake. What is the word? What could possibly strike fear into so many hearts? Velcro®.
Everyone knows what it is, everyone uses it on a regular basis, but everyone also uses that word incorrectly. Developed in the 1940s, the product known as Velcro® got its start when Swiss engineer and inventor George de Mestral got home from walking his dog and noticed his furry friend’s coat littered with burdock seeds.
Anyone who has gone for a walk through lush vegetation is familiar with the various different burrs you can pick up along the way. It was de Mestral who first thought to see why the burrs stuck to things so effortlessly, and if he could replicate that in a textile. Once he figured it out, he named his invention for the French words “Velour” and “Crochet.” But over the years, the v-word stopped being about the product itself, and started referencing something else.
It’s Hook and Loop to You
Currently, Velcro® is a company name. It’s also the generic name for the hook and loop fasteners created via de Mestral’s investigation of the burdock seed. However, in any professional setting, using the v-word to refer to anything other than the company is frowned upon. Anyone who uses the word in reference to the fastener itself runs the risk of being sued.
For everyone else, when referring to the semi-permanent attachment option that requires two different pieces of fabric to form a connection, the phrase you’re looking for is hook and loop fasteners.
From a marketing standpoint, it’s genius. The word that has become synonymous with hook and loop fasteners is only “allowed” to be used by the company known for making those fasteners. And it’s for this reason that our patches making use of this attachment type are always called hook and loop patches.
Making the Best of Hook and Loop Patches
It might not be as easy to dominate the top rankings of Google without using the v-word, but that doesn’t mean the products themselves are at all inferior. Our hook and loop patches are created in any size and custom shape you need, and they’re sure to provide the exact kind of semi-permanent attachment you’re used to.
In order to attach your patches, you’ll either need a needle and thread or an article of clothing with the soft (loop) fabric already attached. Our hook and loop patches are ready to affix in place as soon as they arrive. Each patch comes with the sturdy (hook) fabric already sewn to the back of the patch, and a piece of the soft fabric attached. For customers who already have the softer fabric sewn to the article of clothing intended for the patches, please note that we cannot ship the patches without the loop fabric attached. Among other reasons, this helps to protect your patches during shipment.
From the moment you receive them, you can either separate the two pieces of fabric and attach your patches directly, or you can keep the softer fabric and sew it to the article of clothing intended to house the patch. Either way, the final result will always be a perfectly crafted patch that can be added and removed from a surface as often as needed.
The v-word is something we all take for granted. Chances are hardly a week goes by without you interacting with something that has a hook and loop attachment. The ease of using it as well as how common it is are all reasons why it’s one of our most popular attachment options. You might not recognize the name hook and loop, but when you get your set of patches, you’ll immediately recognize the material. And for our part, we’ll keep selling it to you in a manner that doesn’t run foul of the industry big shots.
