Leatherman's Slogans & Taglines

Leatherman was founded in 1983 by Tim Leatherman and Steve Berliner in Portland, Oregon. The inspiration struck in 1975 during a budget trip through Europe, when Tim's unreliable Fiat kept breaking down and he found himself wishing for a pocket knife with pliers. After years of sketching and prototyping, he filed a patent in 1980 and launched the first Pocket Survival Tool (PST) in 1983 through a 500-unit order from Cabela's catalog. Today, Leatherman Tool Group employs over 700 people across three Oregon facilities and produces more than a million tools annually, sold in over 80 countries.

The brand's core products are multitools and knives, including the iconic Wave Plus, Charge, Surge, Signal, Free, and Skeletool collections, alongside pocket knives, wearables, and premium fixed blades such as the Trac, Rustle, and Pioneer. Its innovations span from the original pliers-based multitool to magnetic locking systems and MagnaCut steel blades.

From its early positioning around preparedness, Leatherman evolved to embrace "Leave nothing undone" as its primary slogan, while the brand's homepage declares "built for real life"—a philosophy that reflects its journey from a single garage invention to a global icon of everyday readiness and American craftsmanship.