One Essential Household Item In the World Is Only Manufactured In Yakima

Surprise, One Essential Household Item Is 99.9% Manufactured In Yakima Washington

One of Yakima's claims to fame is surprising. You'd think hops or apples would be the #1 export out of Yakima but you'd be surprised to discover that something we use daily for the house is the #1 export of Yakima.

What Inventions Have Come Out Of Yakima Washington?

You could almost say this invention is the best thing since sliced bread.

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Does it surprise you to learn that sliced bread has only been around since July 7th, 1928?

Betty White was older than sliced bread. Yes, bread has been around 30,000 years but less than 100 years ago, we got sliced bread after an inventor created the bread-slicing machine.

Another invention concerning bread was invented in Yakima and now Yakima is the central manufacturing location for this modern-day household item.

You might not think about it but if you buy a loaf of bread at the store, the odds are you purchased this as well.

You see, Yakima was the birthplace of the bread clip. The clip that keeps your bread fresh was developed in Yakima as the brainchild of inventor Floyd G Paxton. Paxton invented the bread clip on a flight back to Yakima in 1952.

Paxton then founded the Kwik Lok company and as they say the rest is history. Kwik Lok is located in Yakima and still produces the most bread clips worldwide than any other company in the world. Kwik Lok has other offerings in manufacturing but the bread clip will always be its foundation.

Here's what Kwik Lok says about their company on their website:

Kwik Lok manufactures all-plastic bag closures that are designed to offer consumers a convenient way of packaging. The company offers a line of bag closing equipment, including semiautomatic and automatic products. The all-plastic closure products provide surfaces to print information such as prices, freshness dates and lot codes. Kwik Lok operates more than five production plants around the world, including locations in Australia, Ireland, Canada, Japan, and the United States. Kwik Lok produces billions of bag closures every year for the flexible packaging industry. The company maintains a location in Yakima, Wash.

If you have ever thought that Yakima was all about hops and apples, you'd be wrong. The next time you look at that bread in the cupboard, I'm sure you'll see a Kwik Lok bread clip keeping it fresh.