Velcro isn’t just for children’s shoes anymore. It’s used in home decorating, army tanks, and even astronauts’ spacesuits. We use it in therapy settings and also in our
driving to temporarly fit someone with an arm rest or other adaptive driving
equipment.  It all started when Swiss engineer George de Mestral noticed burrs
stuck to his clothing during a hike. Mestral studied the burrs under a
microscope and discovered they were covered in tiny hooks, allowing them to grab
clothes. 8 years of research later, he had created 2 strips of fabric: one
covered with thousands of hooks, and the other with tiny loops. Though many give
NASA credit for inventing Velcro, Mestral actually patented the idea in 1955. It
was mostly used in athletic equipment and shoes until Velcro’s Director of Sales
appeared on the David Letterman Show in 1984. The interview ended with
Letterman–dressed in a Velcro suit–jumping off of a trampoline onto a wall of
Velcro. He stuck, and so did the idea of non conventional Velcro applications,
causing demand to explode. It is even said that the U.S. Army has developed a
silent version for soldiers’ uniforms, but since it’s classified information,
nobody has gotten that rumor to, um, stick.