Fix a zipper that splits or separates. It takes less than 60 seconds and is easy and free.

Repairing a zipper splits or separates. Our son tends wear out his clothes quite a bit. During almost his entire preschool life, he has been in a preschool with an outdoor orientation. This means that his outerwear must be taken off and on several times a day and that this is quite hard on his clothes and zippers. 

His outerwear is usually and almost always bought second hand or ”pre loved”. This creates excellent conditions for split and broken zippers.

Guide to fixing a zipper that splits or separates

Zippers are a critical point. If you use the zipper a lot it wears out and can start to split. You pull up the zipper and then notice that the jacket/fleece/bag is still just as open.

This happened the other day with the son’s fleece jacket which we purchased earlier in the season for cheap at Facebook Marketplace. 

I started looking for another used fleece online. But then I realized that the internet can usually solve most problems that come up.

That is also the case in this case. Apparently, the slide (or sled) itself, which is the part of the zipper you pull on, can expand when you use the zipper a lot. This causes the gap between the sled and the zip chain to be too large and thus the sled cannot lock the zipper.

A guide how to fix a zipper that splits of separarates:

It’s super easy to do and takes under a minute.

• Take a pair of pliers and gently pinch both sides of the sled. Don’t pinch too hard or the zipper will be too tight to close.

I did this on my son’s fleece jacket and it works fine now. The zipper works like new and locks nicely! This trick can be used for many things. Among other things, I have also fixed my jeans and a outdoor tent in this way. Hoodies are another thing where the zipper often splits. We usually pinch these from time to time before it splits.

If you have tightened the slide too tightly and the zipper has become hard to close, you can easily widen it with a small knife or something flat like a screwdriver.

If the guide above does not solve the problem or if the runner is broken

We have successfully used ZlideOn which is a replacement sled that just replaces the original. This product fixes most broken zippers that the above trick doesn’t fix. Bags, shoes, a jacket, pillow case, sleeping bag, jeans, dress, tent, awning or why not a boat canopy?

The sled from ZlideOn is a replacement for the broken sled and you install on the existing zipper. ATTENTION! There are many different sizes of sleds, but ZlideOn fits almost all zippers known today. The ZlideOn sled opens up so that you can simply snap it onto the existing zipper. When you have the right size, the repair is quick and you can start using the zipper again.

Link to the original post in Swedish.