Victorinox: Encyclopedia - Victorinox

Victorinox

Victorinox is a knife manufacturer headquartered in the town of Ibach, Switzerland. It is primarily known as one of the two official suppliers of Swiss Army knives.

Victorinox - History

The company was founded in 1884. Since 1891 the company has delivered knives to the Swiss army. Their famous emblem — a cross in a shield — has been used by Victorinox since 1909. That year, the mother of founder Karl Elsener passed away and he changed the name of the company to "Victoria" in her honor. In 1921, with the introduction of "inox" (the french term for stainless steel is Acier Inoxidable) into their products, the brand and name of the company became the present "Victorinox" ("Victoria"+"Inox").

On 26 April 2005 Victorinox acquired Wenger, the other official supplier of the Swiss Army knife. For now, Victorinox has announced that it intends to keep both brands intact.

Victorinox - Products

Victorinox - Swiss Army knives

The Swiss Army knife is the product that has been the certerpiece of Victorinox's business. Originally the sole supplier, since 1908 it has shared the contract with Wenger. A compromise between the two companies gave Victorinox the right to advertise as the Original Swiss Army Knife, while Wenger lays claim to the title of Genuine Swiss Army Knife. Victorinox used large plastic models of their knife to make their brand stand out.

Swiss Army knives are widely used outside the army. They are useful multifunctional instruments for everyday life and are available in a wide variety of sizes and functional combinations. Even NASA astronauts have a Victorinox knife as standard equipment. Victorinox knives have also been taken to Mt. Everest and the Arctic. The flagship model of Victorinox, the SwissChamp, is in the New York Museum of Modern Art's Permanent Design Collection.

Victorinox - SwissCard

One of the ways that Victorinox has tried to adapt to the decreased usage of pocket knives in recent years is the introduction of other forms of multi-purpose gadgets such as the SwissCard which is designed to fit wherever a fat credit card would go.

Victorinox - SwissTool

SwissTools are Victorinox's version of Leatherman style tools. They fold out and include 22 tools.

Victorinox - Kitchen Cutlery

A wide assortment of functional tableware and kitchen cutlery is sold by Victorinox but without having the Swiss Army shield logo of Victorinox's other product lines upon them. Additionally, Victorinox also markets kitchen cutlery under the Forschner brand name.

Victorinox - Brand extension

Recently, Victorinox has leveraged their brand image beyond the realm of blades into watches, writing tools, luggage, and even apparel. This extension has involved licensing the use of the Swiss Army shield logo rather than production by the company itself.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Victorinox", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki