repair zipper on favorite fleece jacket or convert to buttons?

[Jim Horton]

One of my favorite fleece jackets zipper slider mechanism has come off. Since I don't have a clue as to how to sew and don't want to shell out too many $ on this, I was hoping to fix it myself. I tried removing the zipper stopper at the end of the jacket and putting the original back on, but it doesn't seem to want to zip closed as I run the slider up or down the jacket making me think maybe the zippers themselves are bad. So, what are some cheap options (other than a new jacket which is next to impossible to find at decent prices with winter just around the corner)? I was thinking it might be possible to convert to a button up and down??

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Thomas]

Take to a seamstress or local drycleaner. They can fix on the cheap. Cheap meaning 10 bucks. I did sewing for 20 years.

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem with a favorite winter jacket. For less than $20 I got a local tailor/seamstress shop to replace the zipper.

Even if I could find a suitable replacement, it would be way more than $20

BTW, if sewing zippers is a challenge, don't even try button-holes ;-)

[rbowman]

Get an new slider. That's the part that wears out. A place like Joann Fabrics usually has a selection although I've had to buy the larger ones for a leather motorcycle jacket on the web.

[Jim Horton]

I tried this tonight. While the slider went on and seemed to zip up and down, the zippers came apart almost as fast. I got the same size as the original, #5. Just to be sure, I measured across the zipper and it was

5 mm. So not sure why it won't now stay zipped closed.

[rbowman]

I suppose the teeth or coils could be worn. I haven't run into that so far. I bought one of those assortment packs of sliders and it's done the job. I think I'm on my third slider for the bike jacket. It's got the old school steel teeth and you can see the wear on the slider.

[Jim Horton]

If I'm not careful, I'll end up spending more than the coat costs. Those assortment packs, at least the ones I've seen, can be expensive. I've already started looking for a replacement. It was a brand called "on line" actually, sort of weird, and naturally everything comes up in a search. 80% cotton, 20% poly. I love the coat because of its smoothness and the way it feels. I have one other where the zipper just lost its pull up, but a paper clip fixed that. Wish this one had been that way.

[hubops]

Zipper repair kit - 2 sizes - made in USA . .

John T.

[micky]

Two people said go to a seamstress or local drycleaner. Have you even asked one for a price?

[Jim Horton]

Thanks, I actually came across this yesterday. However, by the time shipping costs are added, I might as well buy another jacket. Interesting idea, however. I think it must be compressing a clamp down around the zipper and the amount of compression is why it can be used for various sizes. I might have a go at it myself if I find the time and using one of my unused zippers here.

[Jim Horton]

My local drycleaner wants to charge $14.99 not including tax, more than I paid for the jacket. I don't know any local seamstresses.

[micky]

Good. thought you hadn't even asked.

[Thomas]

18 buck jacket? Tack on some velcro.

[Clare Snyder]

Or go find a nicer one at Value Village for $7

[Cindy Hamilton]

You might not be able to find another one just like it. If you're as fond of that jacket as you said, it might be worth it to have it repaired. Even if you could find another identical one, it might cost more than $14.99 now.

Cindy Hamilton

[Jim Horton]

I decided to investigate this a little further. Turns out that when I purchased the local Walmart zippers to try and harvest just the sliders, they were not of the coil type like the jacket has. So it was no wonder a #5 wouldn't keep the zipper closed because I was using the wrong one. So, I have ordered a couple of coil sizes, in both #4.5 and #5 since I wasn't absolutely sure. The original slider has a "5" in a small circle on the back, which I assume is the size, but I also read that could be a die number too, so I also measured across the zipper with a metric ruler. The distance was either 4.5 or 5, so ordered in both sizes. About the only place I found online with reasonable zipper slider prices seemed to be a firm called Sailrite. Ebay venders had out of the world prices by the time shipping was added, so that was definitely out. So, for less than $5 with shipping, the zippers are on the way. If they don't do it, time to trash the coat.

[hubops]

I find it puzzling that you would expend this much time & effort to save your beloved coat - yet balk at paying the local Portuguese lady ~ $ 15. to professionally install a new zipper . John T.

[Jim Horton]

2 reasons: 1) limited income, and (2) been cheated too many times in the past just blindly paying someone to do something. Once you've been down #2's path, you think twice before you trust anyone to do anything. This time, I decided to try actually learning enough about zippers so maybe I can fix all or most future zipper issues. I've done the same thing with my cars.

[rbowman]

Over the years I've saved quite a bit of money fixing zippers. There definitely are two flavors, the ones with teeth like on your jeans, and the coil type. Sailrite is good. I've gotten the #10 metal sliders for my motorcycle jacket from them. 10's are hard to find locally, particularly the metal ones. Plastic wears a lot faster on metal teeth. I do have an old 60/40 parka with plastic teeth that takes a #10 and plastic sliders work fine for that.

[Jim Horton]

Me too, and even more so saved when I started fixing many of my car issues. Thanks to Youtube and the proper tools, I've managed to save quite a lot.

I usually first turn to eBay for small things like zippers, but I thought the prices were out of this world just for a single zipper slider or two, unless one wanted to wait for weeks for something from China. I don't know how some of the US venders sell anything on there. There was a zipper, for example, at a BIN for like $2, then $9 shipping. No thank you. Sailrite seemed to have the best prices I could find and with very reasonable shipping options.