“Everyone said it was an overnight success, except those few of us who knew it was eight years of effort to do so.”
That’s how Tim Leatherman himself cheekily describes the birth of his eponymous brand, which emerged from his obsession with creating a multi-tool that combined the portability of a pocket knife and the functionality of a full set of hand tools.
The standard, non-customized version of the Bond was typically only available in Stainless Steel, recalling the original. That is, of course, until today.
Getting to work in 1975, he estimated it would take a month to build a prototype. It ended up taking three years to create what he called the “Dutch Army Knife,” which totally flopped, and another five to redesign it into the lightweight, mil-spec product known as the Pocket Survival Tool (or PST).
With that multi-tool, he scored an order of 500 units from Cabela’s in 1983. The next year, the company moved 30,000 PSTs, and within a decade, Leatherman was selling over a million units annually.
These days, the Portland, Oregon-based brand puts out a huge range of knives and multi-tools for all sorts of activities.
