[4] What would later become YKK operated initially as San-es Shokai and was founded by Tadao Yoshida in Higashi Nihonbashi, Tokyo in January 1934.

A major technological change came in 1950, when the company purchased a chain machine from the U.S. that allowed the automation of the zipper making process.

YKK's first US office opened in New York City in 1960 and is now the country's top supplier of zippers and other fastening devices such as snaps and buttons.

The development of a machine that automatically included the YZip zipper into the stitching process of jeans further increased sales, especially in the USA.

There was further expansion in the 1970s, with the opening of three new plants in Utazu, Kagawa in April 1972, in Sanbongi, Miyagi in June 1974, and in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto in February 1975.

YKK also opened a fastener-making factory in Eswatini which has grown to supply the entire sub-Saharan region, including Madagascar and Mauritius.

[citation needed] More product lines became available with the Quicklon (sometimes called Cosmolon) fasteners in December 1981. International and product expansion continued during the 1980s, with a real estate business in Singapore in December 1984, an agricultural business in Brazil in January 1985, and a plant in Indonesia in September 1986 producing zippers and aluminium parts for buildings.

[4] On September 19, 2007, YKK was fined €150.3 million by the European Commission for running worldwide price-fixing cartels and sharing markets with zipper-makers Prym and Coats.

On August 26, 2013, YKK Corporation filed a patent infringement complaint in the Middle District of Georgia against Velcro USA Inc. of Manchester, New Hampshire, relating to a fastener strip used in foam moulded products like a cushion body used for an automobile seat.