Hook-and-eye closure

[1] The first reference to the modern term appears in Aubrey's Brief Lives in 1697, which describes a doublet and breeches being attached with "hook and eies".

[2] Hooks and eyes were made by hand from wire, until the town of Redditch, England, already famous for sewing needle manufacture, was the first to machine-manufacture them.

[3] The hook and eye played an important role in women's corsetry; used in rows or as a busk, they can take the stress necessary to support the bust and are used for a lady to be able to independently fasten her corset at the front rather than one's only option being to lace it at the back.

In 1830, one of the innovators in mass-producing hooks and eyes was Henry North of New Britain, Connecticut; he commissioned a man in Hartford named Levi Lincoln to make a machine that automated the creation of these fasteners.

In addition to their application on brassieres, bustiers, corsets and other fine lingerie, a single hook-and-eye closure is often sewn above the top of the zipper to "finish" it and take stress off the fastening on a skirt, dress or pants.