The Continued Relevance of the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife

While the last couple of years have been difficult (to say the least), if you’re into everyday carry (EDC) times have never been better, and that goes double for knives and multi-tools. 

Today your options for both are seemingly endless: whatever your preference of blade steel, handle geometry, handle material, tool assortment, and a multitude of other variables, there is a manufacturer (or two…or three…) out there that has you covered. 

Despite all this choice, my trusty EDC is a “plain” Victorinox Swiss Army Knife; that really is my EDC, as I have no supplemental, dedicated knife. Perhaps it’s because I enjoy being slightly contrarian, but I don’t just carry a Swiss Army Knife for hipster cred, I really do use it multiple times per day, each and every day. 

That said, being exposed to so many other options via my content feeds has had me wondering: am I just old fashioned and out-of-touch, or is the Swiss Army Knife indeed still relevant in today’s marketplace? 

A Victorinox Swiss Army Knife belongs in everyone’s Everyday Carry loadout (Image source: potterybarn.com).

An “accessible luxury” product… 

I’ve lost count of the companies that claim to make some luxury product or another “accessible”. Sure, sometimes they deliver, but more often than not you’re better off with the genuine article. 

That’s not the case with a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife, because in a world sadly filled with so much nameless, low-quality junk, it stands out as an example of a mass-market product that is both beautiful, and beautifully constructed. In other words, there can’t be an “accessible luxury” equivalent because it is already accessible and luxurious! 

Consider the feeling of unboxing a Swiss Army Knife, especially in what I would call the “typical” 91mm configuration; you can feel the heft of the tool as it slides into your hand, and the handles, even though made out of cellidor plastic, absolutely gleam. If you opt for an Alox Swiss Army Knife, you might as well be holding the everyday carry equivalent of a German automobile, such is the feeling of quality. This impression of capable solidity carries through to your first experiences opening and closing the individual tools, which have a convincing “snapping” feeling and sound (similar to the “thunk” of the aforementioned car’s doors sealing shut). 

The Swiss Army Knives themselves aside, traditional luxury is not only defined by the quality of a product today, but also a long history of building these quality products. Victorinox has this pedigree and is fiercely protective of it, in fact part of the reason it bought Wenger was to prevent “Swiss” Army Knives from being outsourced. 

Since this acquisition, “hype” products and “drops” have become commonplace, and Victorinox could absolutely have touted its heritage to follow other brands down this path and up the price curve. They haven’t, and to me that says a lot about the company’s principles, which don’t value luxury “per-se”, but rather just producing the highest-quality products possible, because otherwise, what’s the point?

…that stays true to Everyday Carry’s guiding principle… 

While it has never been a better time to be into everyday carry, this abundance of choice strikes me as a double-edged sword (or is it knife blade?). On one hand, yes, you can obtain a high-quality tool for almost every possible situation you might encounter, but on the other hand this has the potential to move you away from one of the core principles of EDC, which is to cover your bases without weighing yourself down. 

I’ll be the first to tell you that none of a Swiss Army Knife’s tools are the best in a given class, but are they good enough to get me and you out of numerous daily jams? 

Absolutely! 

It helps here to put the Swiss Army Knife into proper context. When Victorinox first started production in the late 19th century, the first Swiss Army Knives were arguably knives first, and the multi-tool functionality was probably seen as somewhat revolutionary. Today, I think it’s more correct to see a Swiss Army Knife not primarily as a knife, but rather as a multi-tool that happens to have cutting implements. 

Common complaints I’ve heard about Swiss Army Knives are that the knife steel is not the best (to put it politely) and a lack of a locking blade makes the tool unsafe. That’s fair, and the blades can appear downright silly when compared directly to more purpose-built options. Then again, what use case(s) are we realistically considering here? 

I used to work in the field, and at the time there was always a need for a burly cutting tool; I could have carried the most tank-like folder on the market around and no one would have looked up from their spit-cup. 

Today, as an urban-dweller, believe it or not my 58mm Rambler does everything I need it to. From cutting oranges, to opening packages, to starting pull-tabs on a can of beans, the Rambler is always there for me, as a versatile multi-tool. 

…and a design that is still forward-looking. 

Imagine a world in which Victorinox did not exist, and the first true multi-tool to appear was a Leatherman. In that world, if some young entrepreneur(s) had the idea to “disrupt” the multi-tool space, with a tool that would slide easily into your pocket, handle most common situations and look handsome and well-made, I believe the design would look very close to a modern Swiss Army Knife. 

The beauty of a Swiss Army Knife is that it can never become outdated because factually speaking it is already outdated, but practically speaking that is far from the case. In 2022, well over a hundred years since the introduction of the multi-tool that started it all, to me the Victorinox still looks modern while also having earned the title of design icon. The versatility of a Swiss Army Knife’s design DNA is clear when you realize just how many variations are available: if you want something highly rugged and utilitarian, you can have that, but if you want something whimsical and fun, you can have that too with the multitude of themes and motifs the company offers (especially on the Victorinox SD Classic). 

The fact that the design is so iconic is not only an aesthetic consideration, but also a practical one. I live in Europe, and while any Swiss Army Knife is technically illegal, it is so recognizable and accepted that no one would bat an eyelid if you pulled out, say, a Bantam to assist you with your picnic lunch. Would that necessarily be the case if you took out a tanto-bladed folder? 

The Everday Carry MVP 

Just as the landscape for everyday carry generally has grown, so has that of Victorinox products. Ultimately, which one you end up with is a highly personal choice, but for what it’s worth, my two favorites are the Victorinox Rambler, for its ability to handle most daily tasks while sliding into my jeans’ 5th pocket, and the Victorinox Huntsman, because it offers a fuller, more robust tool set in a manageable size that looks great with the rest of my gear. 

In short, the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife is absolutely relevant in today’s - and your! - EDC mix. Perhaps the better question is “can we imagine a time when it won’t be relevant”? I can’t think of any such instance; a Victorinox deserves a place in your daily everyday carry loadout, and will look just as good and perform just as reliably in 2022 as it will in the many decades you own it.