In 1941, a Swiss engineer pulled burrs from his dog’s fur after a walk, and they weren’t just seeds: They revealed the idea behind Velcro

Georges de Mestral came back from a country walk with his dog and saw burrs sticking tenaciously to his dog's fur and his clothes in 1941. For most individuals, such an experience may be trivial enough to dismiss; however, what made de Mestral different was his keenness to study this natural phenomenon and understand why it happened.

He found that when put under close scrutiny, each seed was equipped with hundreds of minute hooks which could grasp loops and threads again and again without the aid of glue, knots, or any kind of attachment. This discovery went on to form the basis of the well-known product called Velcro. As mentioned in an article on biomimetics in PubMed Central, what de Mestral learned about the structure of burdock seeds after his stroll marked the first instance in history of nature-based engineering design.

The burrs were capable of attaching themselves through tiny hooks that would latch onto rough surfaces, including hair and fabric. Most importantly, the adhesion was reversible and did not damage either surface, and this mechanism of reversible adhesion provided the critical insight for the engineer.


According to another review on biomimicry published in PubMed Central, hook-and-loop fasteners came to be regarded as among the earliest successful biomimetic surface technologies, devised by mimicking the structure of plant burrs. In essence, the significance of the burr had nothing to do with its beauty or uniqueness as a botanical phenomenon, but its practicality as a mechanical innovation.

The invention required years of engineering after the original observation

This well-known anecdote involving a dog and his walk through the woods is always presented as an instant moment of brilliance in its recounting, but the process of developing the invention spanned many years. De Mestral did not immediately invent the commercial version of the hook-and-loop fastener; he had to understand the mechanics of how the hooks worked before he knew how to replicate them in a synthetic material. According to PubMed Central, de Mestral spent several years developing his invention and patented it in Switzerland in 1951.

While nature supplied the concept, putting the idea into a manufactured item required much trial and error regarding fabric types, hook designs, loop construction, and material strength. Scientists at PubMed continue to classify Velcro as one of the great examples of biomimicry in technology because it shows how biological inspiration can be used to create inventions without direct replication.

What was finally created was not really the plant burr, nor was it a replica of it. It was an abstraction of the burr concept turned into an efficient fastening system, which is why the Velcro invention has become so versatile. The device could be opened and closed again and again, fastened without tying or buckling, and attached firmly to any surface in a number of ways. Such versatility allowed the invention to be used in clothing, medicine, space technology, shoes, luggage, and many other items.

Velcro became one of the world’s best-known biomimicry stories

Importantly for Velcro’s history, this device was one of the clearest instances of biomimicry, which means studying nature to find solutions to engineering problems. As explained by PubMed Central, hook-and-loop fastening is commonly presented in the biomimicry literature as an exemplary instance of applying a solution from nature to an engineering task, which gives another reason for the story’s fame.

The case shows one of the major tenets of biomimicry: sometimes engineering solutions have already been developed in nature if only someone studies nature carefully enough. Hooks were created in burrs since the plant had to develop a way for the seeds to spread. De Mestral found out that the very same method of seed spreading could be applied to fastening and release in humans, and this transformation from observing biology to engineering its principles was the quintessential example of nature-driven innovation.

Another reason the story endured is that it seems rather realistic: there were no major laboratory accidents; no spectacular machines blew up. Instead, the story went something like this: after returning home from a walk with his dog, de Mestral noticed the animal was carrying numerous burrs on its fur and, out of curiosity, asked why they stuck to it so well. This simple act of wonder turned the otherwise pesky natural phenomenon into one of the most recognized fasteners of all time.