About Buttons

In clothing and fashion design, a button is a small disc- or knob-shaped, typically round, object usually attached to an article of clothing in order to secure an opening, or for ornamentation. Functional buttons work by slipping the button through a fabric or thread loop, or by sliding the button through a slit called a buttonhole.
Buttons may be manufactured from an extremely broad variety of materials, including natural materials such as antler, bone, horn, ivory, shell, vegetable ivory, and wood; or synthetics such as celluloid, glass, metal, and plastic.
Hard plastic is by far the most common material for newly manufactured buttons; the other materials tend to occur only in premium apparel.

Buttons and button-like objects used as ornaments rather than fasteners have been discovered in the ancient Indus Valley during its Kot Dijy phase (circa 2800-2600 BC) and Bronze Age sites in China (circa 2000-1500 BC), and are attested in Ancient Rome.
Functional buttons with buttonholes for fastening or closing clothing appeared first in Germany in the 13th century.They soon became widespread with the rise of snug-fitting garment in 13th- and 14th-century Europe.

(Wikipedia)