Velcro®
The idea for the invention which has become known as Velcro came to George de Mestral after he and his dog went for a walk in the hills of Switzerland. He was annoyed by how difficult it was to remove the burrs attached to his pants and his dog's fur. Using a microscope, he examined the way the burr's hooks attached to loops of thread in his wool hiking pants and into his dog's fur. He replicated this technique with strips of fabric. In 1951 he applied for a patent for the "hook and loop fastener." The name Velcro which was derived from two French words: velour and crochet ("velvet" and "hooks") is actually the name of the company he began in Switzerland in 1952.