Do you think in this day and age with all the tech gadgets that are available to us, the 130-year-old Swiss Army Knife still cuts the mustard?
There are actually over 400 different models of Swiss Army Knife (SAK), including the ‘Equestrian’ with a hoof cleaner and the ‘Presentation Master’ a SAK for MI6 with a secure USB drive, there does seem to be a SAK for everything!
I’m really not joking, whether you want to scale a fish, remove a splinter, start a fire, sew a ripped seam, open a bottle of wine, punch the tee on the golf course, find your way with a compass, or cut a loaf of bread, this tool can help — so perhaps not lost to tech?!
The original SAK was made by the company Victorinox for the Swiss Military, but it wasn’t long before it became a must-have for military personnel across the globe — however, many troops couldn’t pronounce the tool’s actual name “Schweizer Offiziersmesser,” so they called it the “Swiss Army knife” instead, which just kinda stuck!
The company behind the knife is not like the tool they make and are far less quick to cut. Due to 9/11, and the sudden ban of SAKs from air travel, sales of the tool declined significantly, but Victorinox refused to lay off any employees. Instead, they simply leased their workers to other companies and continued to pay their wages. It’s pretty cool to say that this is a company that has never made a worker redundant for financial reasons. Now THAT is the way to run a business today in my opinion.
Since that time, they’ve introduced more products and bounced back; in fact, they now make cutlery, luggage, perfume, kitchen gadgets, and watches as well as the SAK.
Do you own a SAK? And, if you were designing one for the future, what sort of tools do you think should be included?
Chop chop,
Jem
