How to unzip a stuck zipper?

November 28, 2010 6:25 PM

Ugh. My zipper on my coat is stuck. It zips up and down, but won't go all the way down. Suggestions?

I've been fighting with it for a few days and have been resorting to pulling it over my head. Unfortunately, the zipper is a super heavy-duty metal zipper (Comby (type C) according to this link), so yanking on it has not been effective. It doesn't have a stop at the bottom.

The bottom starter metal brackets interlink with each other, and this seems to be where the problem is -- I think one side is off by one tooth. But because it's a double zipper, I can't unzip it all the way to yank the teeth down to the proper position.

This happened once before, and a tailor fixed it for me, but he didn't tell me how it happened and now I'm in a new town. If I have to, I'll drag it in to a local tailor and see what can be done.

Any ideas?

posted by zug to clothing, beauty, & fashion (4 answers total)

The best way to lubricate zippers is to run a pencil up and down them. That is if you have ensured the zipper isn't just caught in fabric somwhere. If it's a sticky zip then pencil will help. If it's misaligned have someone else pull both sides of the jacket in different directions while you work the zip.
posted by fire&wings at 6:31 PM on November 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

WD40 via q-tip to offending teeth? Although, I like the pencil idea. Pencil lead is made of graphite - an excellent lubricant and less messy than WD40.
posted by ticketmaster10 at 6:41 PM on November 28, 2010

Try candle wax. Or the fabric/hobby shop should sell something specifically for zippers, but it is basically an undyed wax crayon.
posted by Jodio at 7:09 PM on November 28, 2010

Thirding the pencil trick. I once had a badly misaligned zipper and was honestly shocked at how well it worked. I ran the zipper pull up and down while tugging upwards at the side of the zipper that was too long.
posted by Miss Matheson at 8:22 PM on November 30, 2010