Replacing a zipper; avoiding down escape

Before

The zipper of my client's down vest was broken, so much so that the teeth were coming off of the zipper tape.

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After

I noticed that the zipper teeth were actually sewed onto the zipper tape. I tested to see if I could further remove the stitches that were attaching the zipper teeth to the tape, and I found that I could! This finding was great news, because it allowed me to avoid opening up the seams that kept the down filling inside the jacket, and therefore avoid any risk that the down filling would escape. I undid the stitches to remove all of the zipper teeth, but I kept the old zipper tape. Then, I sewed the new zipper onto the old zipper tape. No down escaped! And, because I didn't sew into the actual fabric of the vest at all, I didn't create any new holes from which down could have escaped. Wow!