Velcro

Velcro Industries N.V. is a technically-driven, global organization and the industry leader. The company, through its worldwide subsidiaries, offers hundreds of different hook and loop products and fastening systems. Offerings range from standard fastening tapes of woven and knit construction, through custom-designed specialty fasteners featuring a range of performance characteristics, materials, sizes and shapes. George de Mestral forms the company to market a novel hook and loop tape fastener. Velcro Industries N.V. was created to market one of the 20th century's handiest inventions: hook and loop tape. The ubiquitous fastener is used in innumerable applications: fastening blood pressure cuffs, sneakers, wallets, industrial lift belts, prisoner leg restraints, and ready-to-assemble furniture. VELCRO brand hook and loop fasteners can be found around the world on all manner of products. The company also manufactures more conventional belts and fasteners. Ultra-Mate, One-Wrap, and Texacro are three of the company's other brands. The family of Chairman Robert Cripps has been the chief shareholder since the 1970s, and there has been speculation of plans to take the company private. Walking is said by some to promote creativity, and this was literally true in the invention of the VELCRO brand hook and loop fastener. As George de Mestral hiked with his dog along some alpine countryside one day in 1941, cockleburs continually fastened themselves to his trousers. Wondering what made the spiny seeds so tacky, he examined them under a microscope, revealing thousands of tiny hooks on the surface of each one. His trousers, which he also examined, were essentially covered with loops of fabric. Although he appreciated the engineering implications of the discovery right away, it took eight years of tinkering for de Mestral to develop a usable product made out of nylon hooks and loops. The main challenge was perfecting the manufacturing process to ensure consistent results. By the 1950s the inventor had created a company to market his novel product. The trademark "VELCRO" was appropriately derived from the French words for velvet and hook: "velour" and "crochet." Although he earned less than $60 per week in his first years in business, de Mestral earned millions after he sold rights to the invention to a new company created by Jean Revaud, an American national. Velok eclipsed Velcro S.A. in innovations and growth and changed its name to Velcro Industries Ltd. in 1967. Velcro USA Inc. (originally American Velcro Inc.) and Velcro Canada Ltd. (Canadian Velcro Ltd.) were subsidiaries of Velcro Industries Ltd., which acquired the rights to the patent in the late 1960s. Velcro was not the Cripps family's first foray into entrepreneurship. Humphrey's father, Cyril, established a factory to make piano frames in 1919; it later was a supplier for the automotive industry. Other holdings included private livestock and tourism investments. Known for its philanthropy (the Cripps Foundation gave Cambridge University £1 million in the 1960s), the family drew some scrutiny in the late 1980s after the company failed to offer a dividend in spite of healthy sales and cash reserves, prompting speculation about the family taking the company private. A minority shareholder, Alan Kahn, sued to prevent the transaction, and a U.S. judge ruled that the United States had jurisdiction in the case. Cripps then canceled his plans. Within five years, however, rumors of the chairman entertaining takeover offers were reported. The company maintained a reputation for secrecy in financial matters and product development. The New York Times likened it to a private company. It held its annual meetings on the isolated Caribbean island of St. Maarten, meetings that, as reported in Forbes magazine, were not even attended by the board, who instead met with Cripps privately. By the time the patent for the original Velcro tape expired in 1978, the word "Velcro" had become a sy