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Swiss Culture: Swiss Army Knives

Robert Easton

The Swiss army knife is a cultural icon famed as far afield as Japan, where it is known as a 'suisu ahh-mee naifu'. Two US presidents have had personalised Swiss Army Knives designed, and there is even one in the New York Museum of Modern Art.

The knife's history dates back to 1891 when Karl Elsener discovered that the Swiss Army were using German knives. This irritated him so much that he founded the Association of Swiss Master Cutlers and began work on the Swiss Army Knife's ancestor, the 'Soldier's Knife', which was wooden handled and featured a blade, a screwdriver, a punch and a can opener.

He succeeded in selling the knives to the Swiss Army (who remain an important customer to this day), and went on designing knives.

The most emblematic Swiss Army Knife consists of a handle of opaque red plastic in which various tools (most commonly a knife blade, screwdriver, can opener, bottle opener, scissors, tweezers or corkscrew) are stored.

The version currently supplied to the Swiss Army features an aluminum handle, and varying combinations of four different tools. There are now an enormous number of Swiss Army 'multi-tools' available, including those designed to cater especially to the needs of electricians, locksmiths, farmers, computer technicians, horse-riders, sailors and golfers.

Some Swiss Army Knives even include clocks, magnifying glasses, lasers, MP3 players, and USB memory sticks.

The 'Swiscard' is another version of the knife, designed to be flat enough to fit snugly into your wallet. It can feature all the usual accessories like screwdrivers and knives, and other like a ballpoint pen, a ruler, and a letter opener.

Victorinox, the company behind the knife (named after the founder's mother), is even cashing in on the brand's reputation by selling watches, travel equipment, ordinary cutlery, and a whole range of suitably 'outdoorsy' clothing.

In 1893 another Swiss company began to manufacture knives, and the Swiss Army started buying knives from both companies. Victorinox and the second company, which became known as Wenger, agreed to call their knives 'The Original Swiss Army Knife' and the 'Genuine Swiss Army Knife' respectively.

Following 9/11 sales of Swiss Army Knives dropped by around 40%. Previously the knives had been stocked in duty free shops and even sold onboard planes, but tightened security regulations meant this market was all but closed off.

This caused Victorinox's rival Wenger to go bust. Victorinox bought the company and intend to go on producing both kinds of knife. They have responded by branching out into other areas, like a blade-free knife for travelers, and high-tech multi-tools like the USB knife mentioned above.

Nowadays Victorinox management report another threat: cheap imitations from China. The quality of the competition is inferior, but it is improving fast enough to be a worry. Swiss Army Knife manufacture has been in the Elsener family for four generations, and current boss Carl is determined that it stay that way.

Fans of the Swiss Army Knife do not need to panic. The company's contracts with the Swiss Army are still safe, and there is enough demand from sources around the globe that Victorinox are still producing over 30,000 knives a day.

In 2006 spoof news portal utterpants.co.uk ran a story which caught out a few gullible readers. Their story featured the newest Swiss Army 'multi-tool', which featured all the accessories needed for a woman's day including tampon, toothbrush, make up kit and mobile phone, all of which folded conveniently inside… a dildo. It was to be priced at around US$200, and was called the Swiss Wunder Wabbit. The story was, of course, completely false.

Other articles by Robert Easton
Albert Einstein
The Amber Room
Angela Merkel
Austrian Food
The Berlin Wall
German Philosophers
German Cars
German Beer
German Food
German Golf
German Music
German Politics
German Stereotypes
Johannes Gutenberg
Michael Schumacher
Mozart
Sex in Germany
Sex in Switzerland
Swiss Army Knives

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