Check your zippers... I bet they're YKK!The company YKK was founded as Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha, but changed
its named to YKK in 1994. It is a privately held group that consists of 80
companies in over 50 countries. They have over 200 facilities all around the
world. They have over 35,000 employees. They manufacture seven million
zippers every day in their zipper plant in Macon, Georgia alone. The
factories control the whole process in making the thread, the brass and the
polyester. Most of the zippers have the YKK name on them, but many also have
other brand names such as Levi's.
YKK not only make the little "tabs" on the zippers, they also
make the cloth and the zipper mechanism. YKK also manufactures the machines
needed for making the zippers. They also are a major manufacturer of
architectural aluminium products such as stormproof storefront windows and
structures for other lightweight constructions. In fact, this division
stands for two thirds of the company's sales.
Because it is a privately held company, they don't report their profits, but they did report a revenue of almost 2
billion dollars last fiscal year. It's a giant.
source: ykk.com, hoovers.com, howstuffworks.com