DANIEL WHITE
cunning mechanical product engineering
Technical product development with a solid foundation in precision engineering and a flare for mechanical ingenuity.
Anti pickpocket zips

Following the clamp down in airport circuitry and the restriction in the use of padlocks on bags, Go design were interested in making a range of luggage that incorporated tamper proof zips to deter pick-pockets. The two requirements were that the mechanism had to be recognisable as a zip, and they had to be free to re-design the zip tag.

The result was a zip with a two tier defensive:

1) Subterfuge

The zip is a simple puzzle that relies on the laziness of the human brain: When closed the tabs are in the wrong side of each other, so the action that normally pulls a zip open, pulls this one closed. It is surprising how long this had everyone who tried it confused, even with the quite visible construction faults.

2) Attention grabbing

Even once the puzzle has been figured out, it is still necessary to push down on the zip in order to open it; thus alerting the owner to the thief’s presence. The core of a thief’s skill lies in distracting the mark and this reduces his/her chances.

All of this was achieved with a design that uses no moving parts.

Anti pickpocket zips development

As always, there was a relentless regime of model making, prototyping and testing throughout the design process. This project is a classic example of how much work is involved in finding a simple solution.

Anti pickpocket zips development