Resealable bags and press-to-close pants
Press-to-close zippers on Ziploc bags were originally intended for clothing.
Borge Madsen envisioned pants zippers using interlocking plastic tracks, but this proved impractical. Not knowing what to do with his invention, he sold his zipper patent to a father and son, Max and Steven Ausnit, who formed Flexigrip, Inc in the 1960s.
While Flexigrip, Inc. integrated their zipper to pencil cases and binder inserts, Dow Chemical developed a polyethylene resin bag that would benefit from resealable plastic zippers. Several years of negotiation later and the Ziploc bag was born.
Before Ziploc, resealable bags were a niche market since bags needed to be heat sealed. Today, Ziploc dominates this market.
Ziploc pants weren't a successful idea, but the story behind the resealable bag shows how important adaptation and iteration is. Being flexible and open to change offers a greater chance of developing something useful, rather than clinging to the first iteration.
