Victorinox is one of the two (the second one is Wenger) official suppliers of Swiss Army knives located in the town of Ibach. A compromise between the two companies gives Victorinox the right to advertise as the "Original Swiss Army Knife", while Wenger lays claim to the title of "Genuine Swiss Army Knife".

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) into their products, the brand and name of the company became the present "Victorinox" ("Victoria"+"Inox"). Recently Victorinox has leveraged their brand image beyond the realm of pocket knives into watches, cutlery, leatherman style tools, writing tools, luggage, and even apparel.

Swiss pocket 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. The flagship model of Victorinox, the SwissChamp, is in the New York Museum of Modern Art's Permanent Design Collection.

External links

The official Victorinox site (http://www.victorinox.com)

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