In these days where profit is king, manufacturers are looking to make the biggest possible profit margin they can out of everything they sell. There are some iconic products that we think we know where they are made, but do we? Did you know that Black & Decker tools, Barbie Dolls and Volvos cars are made in China? Samsonite is made in India and the iconic Rawlings baseball is actually made in Costa Rica. So even though our favorite army knives are called Swiss Army Knives, are they still made in Switzerland?
Firstly, it’s worthwhile thinking about what a Swiss Army knife is and where did it first come from. If you were a Swiss soldier in the 1880’s (that would make you very old right now!), you carried your trusty “Offiziermesser”. You would use it to open canned food for your dinner and disassembling your rifle. During the Second World War, American soldiers understandably having trouble getting “Offiziermesser” to roll off their tongues, coined the catchy name – Swiss Army Knife.
Victorinox vs Wenger
Victorinox has produced the Swiss Army Knife since the 1890’s in Switzerland and from its earliest beginnings, Victorinox had competition from another Swiss company called Wenger. These two companies fought it out to own the Swiss Army Knife market. In 1908, after much negotiation, they agreed on each other’s slogans. Imagine how many lawyers and how much money it would take today to get two corporations to agree on how each other could advertise their products? The agreement said Wenger could use the slogan the “Genuine Swiss Army Knife” and Victorinox could say it made the “Original Swiss Army Knife”. I’m not sure what the real difference is or what the best slogan is but it’s a clever way to not obviously disadvantage one Swiss Army Knife maker over the other.
The competition between Victorinox and Wenger for Swiss Army Knife market share was brought to an end once and for all in 2013 when Victorinox, who had purchased Wenger 8 years before, announced it was going to merge each brand’s knife ranges under the Victorinox brand. Game, Set and Match.
What does “Swiss Made” really mean?
To legally claim your industrial product is Swiss Made, 60% of the manufacturing costs and the essential manufacturing step must occur in Switzerland. Victorinox easily exceeds this legal test as they manufacture each of the 17 million Swiss Army Knife parts they make annually in their small factory about an hour from Zurich in the town of Ibach. From here, they ship out the 350 different models to the world.
Even today, the Swiss Army issue each new soldier with a Victorinox Swiss Army knife as do 15 other armies around the world. As Robin Williams used to say, “you have to question an army the gives their soldiers a pocket knife that includes a wine bottle opener”. Sounds like a pretty awesome army to me!
What do you think about manufacturers who continue to produce their products in their home countries? Is it really that important? Tell me what you think in the comments section below.
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I rate the quality of Victorinox multi-tools very highly, so high I gave the Victorinox SwissTool Spirit X my Quality crown. See why on the Recommended Multi-Tools page.
We know that Victorinox still manufactures their multi-tools in Switzerland but where do the 3 big American brands – Leatherman, SOG & Gerber – make their multi-tools? You’ll be surprised!