What simple invention required many steps and ultimately took longer to develop than the airplane and electronic computer? In this episode of Johan Norberg's New and Improved, Norberg shares the humble history of the zipper.

The zipper’s story is a long one, with many attempts and failed iterations before something feasible could be adopted. Even then, it was not embraced until people could be convinced to try it and conceive of its many possible benefits.

The long journey of the zipper embodies the path of most innovations: it takes trial and error, continual experimentation, and improvements that have to be tested by the market. Today, factories produce enough zippers every year to wrap around the world more than a hundred times.