OUR STORY

Here is our version of the story of how MagZip came to be:
 
A number of years ago Scott was talking with Nancy (his mother) about the challenges her brother (Scott’s Uncle Dave) was having zipping up his jackets. Scott, an inventor and engineer, immediately knew there was a better solution and working with his mother they were able to build the first prototype; a zipper with magnets glued to the bottom. Of course, it didn't work at all. However, it did show them that using magnets was the way to a better zipper. The challenge was to design a better way for zippers to start. When they looked at the struggles that Uncle Dave and many others had, it revolved around starting the zipper. But getting the magnets to pull the base together, align it properly, and have it hold together proved to be a significant challenge. After many months of tinkering the two brought on some additional help.
 
It was a nice summer evening sitting around a campfire when Nancy and Scott mentioned to a neighbor and family friend they were working on a new magnetic zipper but could use some design help. Dave Lyndaker happened to be an experienced and excellent mechanical designer who had spent years designing small mechanical parts. Once Dave joined the team, the 3 of them started rapid prototyping and assembling zippers. The team would work on a design concept, Dave would design it and get parts manufactured, Scott would then assemble them onto zippers, and the 3 of them would then test the parts. Often the parts would break on the first or second try. Once a prototype passed the team's initial tests Nancy would put the zipper in a jacket and give it to Uncle Dave to try. There were many prototypes that would come together for him, but wouldn’t zip up.
 
It was a long and painstaking process but the team truly believed in the vision of a better zipper. Once the product was working well the team started contacting clothing companies and zipper manufacturers. But even though the market showed interest in these early prototypes the market wasn’t ready. In 2011, the team caught a break when Under Armour showed interest. It was during the first Innovation Show that DNS Designs showed off their product to the Under Armour team. They loved the product and shortly thereafter they started working on a production version of MagZip.