Wise Components - A Distributor of Leatherman Multi Tools


Tim Leatherman and his wife travel Europe and the Middle East. Between a cranky Fiat and leaky hotel plumbing, Tim's boy-scout knife leaves him wanting more, like some pliers, and maybe a screwdriver or two. He dreams up multi tools.

Tim, a mechanical engineer, goes through several prototypes with cardboard and wood. His brother-in-law, a machinist, teaches him how to work metal and the first steel prototype takes form in Tim's basement the next year.

Tim applies for and receives U.S. Patent 4,238,862 for his first mult -tools prototype, "Mr. Crunch." The New York Times covers the patent, and Tim waits patiently by the phone for the million-dollar call. It doesn't arrive. Tim's new business partner, Steve Berliner, convinces his father to lease them some space in his machine shop.

The prototype is fine-tuned and the Pocket Survival Tool™ (PST®) is born. Knife companies say it's a tool. Tool companies say it's a gadget. And the gadget company can't even bother to spell Steve Berliner's name right, much less place an order. However, Cabela's and Early Winters have better foresight and place small orders for their holiday catalogs. Leatherman Tool Group incorporates in July.

The first week of 1984, right after the holiday catalog from Early Winters, the retailer doubles their order to 500 PSTs. A week later, they call back and order 750 more. Two weeks later, they order another 1,000. The goal for 1984 was 4,000 tools. We sold just shy of 30,000. This is known as "exponential growth," and it happened a lot around us that year.

Always looking for innovations, we consider, then nix, adding scissors to the PST. However, looking at our shaggier hairstyles from those days, scissors might've been a good idea.

Bigger or smaller? For our second tool, we go smaller. Turns out we are a little ahead of our time. The Mini-Tool® has a small but loyal following we will re-discover in 1996 with the Micra®, and in 2001 with the Juice®.

Turns out, handy people really love our tools. With sales booming, we build a huge factory with enough capacity to last 5 years on enough land that we can expand over 10 years. After 2 years, we double the factory. And 3 years later, we'd triple it. And buy more land for employee parking. To call our projections merely "conservative" would be like calling our tools merely "useful."

If smaller wasn't the answer for a second tool, then bigger must be. In its second year, the Leatherman Super Tool®—which features our first locking blades—sells nearly 650,000 units, and 1.1 million its third.

We introduce the Wave®, which is the first multi-tool that allows access to the blade without opening the pliers, and with just one hand. And when you're fighting off mobsters with the other hand, like Jackie Chan in "Rush Hour,"—the Wave's first appearance on the big screen— that can be pretty useful.

We introduce the Juice, a tool that's "just right" between the super-compact Micra and our full-sized tools. Tremendously popular, the Juice Multi tools must nonetheless be stowed in your checked luggage.

We unveil the Squirt® line. Small enough to be classified as "keychain" tools but handy and tough enough to be called a Leatherman. Three different models boast everything from scissors and mini-pliers to wire strippers, screwdrivers and knives.


Wise Components - A Distributor of Leatherman Multi Tools