You can replace the slider on your jacket yourself. Organize a comfortable workspace with good lighting. Take care not to lose small parts. The tools we will need are a small screwdriver and pliers.
As spare parts, the upper parts of the old zipper will come in handy. Or rather, metal fasteners called stoppers. They prevent the slider from popping out. If the jacket originally had metal fasteners, you can carefully remove them using a small screwdriver and reuse them.
The quality of the fittings, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired. It happens that the jacket is still completely new, but the lock does not work. Let's determine the reason. Perhaps the slider was simply “scattered.” Then everything is simple. It is enough to press it on both sides at the bottom. Don't overdo it - the metal is very soft. The plastic slider cannot be tightened; it will definitely have to be changed. Let's check our work by buttoning and unbuttoning the jacket several times. The zipper does not come apart, which means the repair is complete.
If the defect cannot be corrected, we will change the slider. Remove the old runner from the tape.
Carefully remove the stopper using a small screwdriver and pliers. Remember that the stopper is made of very soft metal. Almost gently straighten the antennae of the stopper and try to maintain its original shape, without straightening the stopper. And we visually remember how it was installed.
We put a new slider on the zipper tape. Sometimes this can be done easily and quickly, sometimes it takes some time. Of course, a certain skill helps. If it doesn’t work, we trim the jacket, release the end of the braid and put on the runner loosely. We sew it up neatly, as it was.
We put the fastener in place. The jacket is ready.
If the jacket has a plastic lock with plastic stoppers, carefully tear off the plastic stoppers using round-nosed pliers, trying not to damage the fabric, and replace them with metal ones after replacing the slider. By the way, recently manufacturers have begun to make special marks on the stoppers of plastic zippers for the “arrival” of a new slider. This is very convenient; you don’t have to rip off the plastic fasteners. Take a closer look.
If upon initial inspection it is clear that the zipper teeth are missing or the tape is torn, then replacing the slider will not help, the zipper will have to be changed completely. You can contact a workshop, or you can do it yourself if you have a sewing machine in the house and you are friends with it.
