Who Owns Ziploc?

The Ziploc brand was introduced by S.C. Johnson in 1968, making it one of the earliest mass-market resealable bag products available to consumers. S.C. Johnson credits Ziploc with inventing the resealable bag category, establishing a product format that has since become a staple in households worldwide. The brand's name combines "zip," referring to the zipper-like interlocking seal mechanism, with "loc," suggesting the locking and secure closure of the bag.

At the time of its introduction, food storage options for consumers were largely limited to twist-tie bags, wax paper, aluminum foil, and rigid containers. Ziploc's resealable zipper seal offered a significant convenience advantage: consumers could open and reclose the bag multiple times without the contents spilling or the seal failing. The product quickly found adoption for food storage, lunch packing, and household organization.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Ziploc expanded its product range to include multiple bag sizes, from sandwich bags to gallon-sized storage bags. The introduction of freezer-grade bags, designed to withstand low temperatures without becoming brittle or losing their seal, extended the brand's utility to frozen food storage. Ziploc bags became a fixture in American kitchens, and the brand's name became widely used as a generic descriptor for resealable bags, a phenomenon that S.C. Johnson has worked to protect through trademark enforcement.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Ziploc extended beyond bags into rigid storage containers, offering a complementary product line for consumers who wanted resealable storage in non-flexible formats. The Ziploc container line competed with established brands including Rubbermaid and Tupperware in the food storage container segment.

Product innovation continued through the 2000s and 2010s. In 2010, the Ziploc Evolve sandwich bag, made with 25 percent less plastic than the standard bag, was named "Best in Show" at the Best New Product Awards in Canada, reflecting the brand's response to growing consumer interest in environmental sustainability. S.C. Johnson has continued to invest in sustainability-oriented product development, including bags made with recycled materials and reduced plastic content.

By 2025, Ziploc had maintained its position as the dominant brand in the US zipper food storage bag market. Market analysis published by IndexBox in 2025 confirmed that Ziploc dominates the zipper food storage bag market by sales volume and market share, leveraging a high-volume strategy while maintaining superior customer ratings relative to competitors including Hefty and store-brand alternatives.