How to replace a zipper slider (2024)

Inspect your product to understand the way the zipper has been constructed, and what the defect is.

In this example, the zipper sliding component is defective, and cannot slide properly anymore. It needs to be replaced.

Note: at this stage, it is important to determine which part of the zipper is broken. If there is something wrong with the zipper teeth (i.e., one tooth has snapped off) then this guide will not help solve the problem

To perform this repair, we will first remove the "top stop" of the zipper. This is piece of plastic at the top of the zipper, which is slightly larger than the other zipper teeth.

Important: This procedure will permanently remove this part of the zipper and we will replace it with a thick knot instead. Do not perform this repair if you do not wish to cause this type of damage/repair.

Use sturdy scissors, or preferably pliers, to remove the top stop. Take care not to damage the surrounding material or zipper teeth; and take care with your fingers!

Note: For this guide, we have demonstrated on a plastic top-stop. Some zippers may have a metal top-stop, which can be carefully removed by un-bending, and re-attached at the end.

Once the top stop is removed, keep it to one side, for referring to later when making the replacement knot.

Slide the defective slider up to the top of the zipper, and remove it.

Remove any pullers/toggles/fasteners from the zipper puller, and set them aside. These can be reused later.

Find a new slider, matching with the zip tape size. Craft shops, sewing shops, or even second-hand shops are great places to find these.

Tip: to determine the zipper puller size, check for the number on the backside. For more information, check out the iFixit guide Plastic Tooth Zipper Size

Take your new zipper puller, and insert it back onto the zip from the topside...

... and pull it down to the middle of the zip.

Because we removed the plastic top stop, we need to create a new one, which we will do by tying a thick knot. For this, we will use a sewing needle and thick thread. The knot must be thick enough to stop the slider at the tape end again.

Get creative: this knot will be visible, so might choose a matching thread colour to be less noticeable; or a bright contract colour to celebrate your repair!

Start by putting the needle through the zipper tape, and making a standard hand-sewing knot. Then, keep repeating the process of sewing through the tape, to build a thicker and thicker bundle of thread.

Tip: periodically pull the zipper up to the repair, and gently test if the thread bundle is large enough to stop it coming off. If it's still too small, keep adding more thread.

Once the thread bundle is large enough to prevent the zipper puller from coming off, make a final securing knot, and cut the excess thread away.

The thread bundle is now complete, and will stop the new slider from coming off.

Re-attach any additional strong/thread/loops which were on the original zipper puller (here, we re-attached the pulling string).

Check that the repair functions correctly by pulling the zip and and down. Put on the item and test it again.

🛠️🏆👏 Congratulations! The repair is complete, and you're ready to go!