Red Dot win for 3D printed puller by YKK × Variloom
A partnership between global fastening solutions maker YKK and 3D printing company Variloom has picked up a 2026 Red Dot product design award. Variloom was founded in 2020 and is developing a 3D printing system and special filament to create what it says are versatile and recyclable fabrics. It is backed by Moon Creative Lab, an enterprise accelerator that is part of Japanese group Mitsui.
With YKK, the company devised a highly customisable composite puller solution. Designed to be manufactured on-demand, it offers great design freedom and eliminates the restrictions of conventional moulding processes. It notably does away with minimum order quantities (MOQs).
The material chosen to make the zipper pullers is a recyclable bio-based TPU.
Photo courtesy of YKK × Variloom
