Pro tip: A customer taught me about zipper pulls at a fabric swap meet

I was at this fabric swap meet in Portland last fall, just browsing through bins of random notions. This older lady next to me picked up a vintage zipper and said 'you know, a good zipper pull can make or break a jacket design.' She showed me how she replaces cheap plastic pulls with these little leather tabs she cuts herself. She even pulled out a worn out pair of scissors from her bag and demonstrated on the spot. I ended up chatting with her for 20 minutes about how the weight and texture of the pull changes how the jacket drapes. Never thought about it before, but she was right. Has anyone else had a random stranger drop design wisdom on them in an unexpected place?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_owens4d ago

The scissors thing kills me. Like of course she just happened to have a worn out pair of scissors in her bag for this exact life changing zipper demonstration. I had a guy at a bus stop once explain to me why the stitching on my backpack straps was going to fail in about three months. He was right down to the week. I don't know if these people are secret design ninjas or just really bored. Either way they're out here changing lives with scissors and bus stop predictions.

leerobinson4d ago

Bruh, that bus stop prediction is wild. Did you ever ask him how he knew or was he just one of those guys who disappears into a cloud of cigarette smoke after dropping a truth bomb like that? I’m genuinely curious if he was a retired tailor or something, or if he just stared at bags all day for fun.