Buttons, as ornaments or seals, have been discovered in the Indus Valley Civilization as far back as c. 2800 BCE.

Functional buttons for fastening clothes appeared first in Germany in the 13th Century.

In 1851, here in the the Americas, Elias Howe received a patent for an “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure”.

Perhaps because of his success with the sewing machine, he did not try to market his zipper.

Many decades and much refinement later, the zipper graduated from boots and tobacco pouches to clothing.

In the 1930s, a sales campaign began for “self-reliant” children’s clothing that featured zippers.

By 1937, according to French fashion designers, the fly had beaten the button in the battle of fasteners for men’s trousers.

Much closer to home, racing “time trials” on a pair of American jeans consistently break the one-second barrier;

Whereas the brand-new, slick-buttoning, high-fashion Italian Formula One racer crossed the jean’s finish line in just under three minutes.