Cutting EDGE
The iconic multi-tool Swiss Army knife celebrates its 125th anniversary
In his book, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth’, Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut who has spent more than 4000 hours in space explains on one page about a particular space mission, where he had to open the door to a Russian Space Station, and he could not do so with the tools provided. He finally remembered his Swiss Army Knife and that got the job done. He then wrote of the Swiss Army Knife: “Never leave the planet without one!”
Now that is a hero’s way to honour a product that has gone from being an army knife to a global icon? When Karl Elsener founded his cutlery workshop in Ibach, Schwyz, back in 1884, I wonder if he realised the unprecedented success that Victorinox would achieve. Four generations later, it includes household and professional knives, watches, travel gear and fragrances in its portfolio. But the
Swiss Army Knife remains its most iconic offering; the little red knife has been in the market for 125 years now.
Elsener, Victorinox CEO and fourth generation of the family-owned company.
While the company has created special limited editions for the customers and consumers to celebrate and commemorate this landmark milestone, “for our teams, globally, we have decided to do something special. Time spent with family is of immense value, therefore, we have offered teams around the world a free paid holiday on their birthday so they can spend it with their families and share with us anecdotes of their time and hopefully instances when they used the little red knife,” informs Elsener. Now that’s truly celebratory!
“It is not just one feature—the quality and functionality of the Swiss Army Knife (SAK) plays a very important role, which is why the SAK is so popular. They are also very useful on adventure trips because many expeditions to the North Pole, Mount Everest and to the Amazon are always equipped with our Swiss Army Knives,” concludes Carl