A few years ago, my family was targeted by two pickpockets.

Our first encounter was forgivable and in fact very common to most. The thief was my daughter, a cute and curious toddler. Like many children her age, she was always on the go and loved to explore. She especially loved to explore the contents of my wife’s purse. On one occasion specifically, she accidentally cut herself on a sharp object while rummaging through my wife’s things. It was a shocking moment as we immediately tended to my daughter’s injury.

Our second run-in with a pickpocket was a more serious event. We were on a family holiday in Italy and a pickpocket opened every zipper compartment of my backpack while I was wearing it. I was unaware that anything had happened until someone pointed out my bag was open.

"Similar to a child safety lock on a pill bottle, for a zipper."

Luckily for me, the only valuables taken were easily replaceable. But I can only imagine how the loss of a passport, wallet or phone would completely ruin a once in a lifetime experience…

It’s frustrating to think about how often this happens with an estimated 25 million pickpocket crimes occurring each year in Europe alone.

These two events inspired me to create a device that would offer added security and protection to zipper compartments. Similar to a child safety lock on a pill bottle, the same feature on a zipper compartment would allow for easy personal access but require too much force for a pickpocket to go unnoticed. As an engineer, I wanted to keep functionality in mind and design a modern zipper locking device that was discrete, as universally adaptable as possible and would require no key or combo to open.

And that’s how the ZippGuard™ safety lock came to be. So whether you’re a traveler at risk of pickpocket theft or you live with a curious toddler - the ZippGuard™ safety lock will help keep your belongings safe and unwanted hands out

Michael Matchett, P.Eng.
(Founder)