History

1968

The role played by the 1968 Fiat Tim Leatherman and his wife purchased for $300 to travel around Europe is a wonderful part of our company lore.
Here are some additional mileposts in the Leatherman Journey.

1975

Inspired by leaky pipes and a cranky car on a budget trip through Europe, Tim conceives ideas of the pocket survival Tool.

"I made this first cardboard model in a hotel room in Tehran. Iran was one of 20 countries we visited in nine months."

-Tim Leatherman

1977

The basic form of the PST begins to take shape in Tim's basement shop.

"My training was an engineer, not a machinist. My brother-in-law helped me learn the machinist skills."

-Tim Leatherman

1978

Various options for features and locking mechanisms are considered.
"I had told my wife this project would take a couple of months. Its seems to have taken longer."

-Tim Leatherman

1979

Tim's vision for a tool combining full-size pliers with a pocket knife comes to fruition.

"This is essentially what I had in my mind from the outset. It occurred to me that others might want such a tool."

-Tim Leatherman

1980

Tim's invention, using the name Mr. Crunch, is granted patent 4,238,682.
"unfortunately, nobody wanted to buy my invention.The knife companies thought it was a tool; the tool companies thought it was a knife."

-Tim Leatherman

1983

Finally, two mail-order business place modest orders; Tim and college friend Steve Berliner found Leatherman Tool Group.
"One of the catalogs put our tool on the back cover in time for Christmas; they had to reorder several times."

-Tim Leatherman

1986

Sales grow at a rapid pace. The Company's second product is introduced.
"The Mini-Tool is the most compact way to provide full-size, full strength pliers."

-Tim Leatherman

1994

Now employing more than 200 people, the company unveils a beefier version of its original concept. The company sells more than a million tools for the second year in a row.

"By now we actually had some competition. We stayed ahead of the newcomers by producing a larger product with more features and all locking blades."

-Tim Leatherman

1996

Leatherman gets small. The ultra-tiny Micra becomes and remains-the category's top seller. A 1997 Backpacker Magazine Editors' Choice.

"We're about to complete our factory's 10-year building plan, but we moved to this site less than five years ago."

-Tim Leatherman

1998

A bold new design sets a new standard for what a multi-purpose tool can be.

"Wave introduced more comfortable handles and external access to key features. It's still our most popular full-sized product."

-Tim Leatherman

2001

Dramatic new thinking results in a series of hip, stylish tolls; The Juice line. Anodized aluminum scales off vibrant colours. More than 400 employees now manufacture Juice and a dozen other Leatherman products.

"Sure, I care about the colour, but what I really care about is that they work."

-Tim Leatherman