Leatherman: made in the USA?

G

gatch

Joined
Feb 24, 2005
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Recently I was looking at a friend's Leatherman Juice KF4 and I noticed that the "USA" wording was scratched off from the plier head of his tool. Mine has "USA". I asked him if he did it and he said that they came like like that. So I looked at some blister packs in the store and could see through the packaging that they too had the "USA" wording erased.

Below is a picture comparison of his (right) and mine (left):

IMG_0167.jpg


I heard that Leatherman recently had to remove the "made in the USA" from their packaging, but in appears that they have done the same on this tool. I got mine some time ago and he just go his recently. It looks really bad too as it has just been scratched off.

I read somewhere that the all the plier heads for Leatherman are made by a company that moved its maunfacturing to Mexico.

Anyone else notice this on their rencently purchased Leatherman?
 
Didn't make sense when I heard this first but, rumour has it that some products or its components there of are being produced in Eastern Europe. Unconfirmed rumours stated the Czech republic?! Bare in mind this is still only a rumour.
 
GIRLYmann said:
Didn't make sense when I heard this first but, rumour has it that some products or its components there of are being produced in Eastern Europe. Unconfirmed rumours stated the Czech republic?! Bare in mind this is still only a rumour.
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Some while ago I asked Leatherman by e-mail about this. Their reply was that only Leatherman files were made in Austria, no mention of other components. Altho this was okay for most of the country, California law requires that all parts of a product has to be of US manufacture in order to qualify for the claim "Made in USA." In consequence, Leatherman had to pay a substantial fine. Because of that, they discontinued stamping their products "USA" although it was only a problem in one state.

It is only speculation, but maybe now that Leatherman no longer advertises "Made in USA" they may feel free to import other components as well. AFAIK, the products are still assembled here.

Frank said:
Interesting. My CS4 just says TOOL also. I can't find a USA on it anywhere.

Edit: I guess they are made in Mexico. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/b176953.pdf
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I just read the pdf and it now seems the earlier reply I had received from Leatherman may have been less than forthcoming.
 
I dont care, I would buy the tool for 50 % less the price.
That's what Leatherman should do bring the price 50 % less and sell the tools as soon as possible.
 
Tango44 said:
I dont care, I would buy the tool for 50 % less the price.
That's what Leatherman should do bring the price 50 % less and sell the tools as soon as possible.
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But many people are loyal to Leatherman particularly because it was supposedly a US made product. And Leatherman tools are not inexpensive to buy either, however, people were prepared to pay this because it was US made.

I checked my S2 and it has "tool" in place of "USA" on the plier head.
 
znapschatz: Thank's for that bit of info. Interesting enough a fact to ponder.
This was written 10 years ago.
"At one time in the late 1980s Leatherman subcontracted most of its work to Japanese companies, said Bjorklund, but the company reversed that practice because it didn't have appropriate quality controls. Now only a small amount of the work is subcontracted."
(source: http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/1996/09/30/story7.html)
Many cutlery concerns had their early beginnings or still continue to outsource from Japan.
I do hope that Leatherman Tools won't follow the lead of that other notable Oregon pliertool manufacturer.
 
Hello All,

The reason behind this is a suit allowed in the Republic of Kalifornia. While US Law allows marking "Made in the USA" if most of the content is made in the USA, Kaliforinia disagrees. They say if anything is made in outside the US, the product cannot be marked "Made in the USA" or "USA".

Well, kids, no one makes screws or rivets in the USA anymore except for very weird fasteners, so I guess no one whose product includes fasteners is going to be able to mark "Made in the USA" anymore. Additionally, Leatheman had knife blades sharpened in Mexco. While fasteners and blade sharpening are a minor part of the cost, Kalifornia decided that US Law wasn't good enough and allowed two individuals to sue Leatherman and win. Of course, the state of Bankrupt Government (Kalifornia) awarded the plantiffs $13 MILLION. Needless to say, this isn't done yet and the case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.

I work for a manufacturer and can only say, the cost of compliance in Kalifornia equals the total of compliance in the other 49 states. No wonder they are so screwed up in the Republic of Kalifornia.

Best - Joe :(
 
JoeBW said:
Hello All,

The reason behind this is a suit allowed in the Republic of Kalifornia. While US Law allows marking "Made in the USA" if most of the content is made in the USA, Kaliforinia disagrees. They say if anything is made in outside the US, the product cannot be marked "Made in the USA" or "USA".

Well, kids, no one makes screws or rivets in the USA anymore except for very weird fasteners, so I guess no one whose product includes fasteners is going to be able to mark "Made in the USA" anymore. Additionally, Leatheman had knife blades sharpened in Mexco. While fasteners and blade sharpening are a minor part of the cost, Kalifornia decided that US Law wasn't good enough and allowed two individuals to sue Leatherman and win. Of course, the state of Bankrupt Government (Kalifornia) awarded the plantiffs $13 MILLION. Needless to say, this isn't done yet and the case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.

I work for a manufacturer and can only say, the cost of compliance in Kalifornia equals the total of compliance in the other 49 states. No wonder they are so screwed up in the Republic of Kalifornia.

Best - Joe :(
Click to expand...

Joe,

Please indulge this thick head, but could you explain why you refer to the "Republic of Kalifornia?" I sense a political comment here, but can't figure it out. Is your implication that the state is governed as if it were a separate country? Does the spelling, "Kalifornia" allude to its Austrian native governor? And how does this fit together with a successful suit maintaining that a product marketed as made in USA was in fact not so much?

Frank posted this, pretty well showing that outsourcing was more than casual:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/...es/b176953.pdf

Although I am a huge fan of Leatherman products, I don't see why the company should not be held accountable to a reasonable law. I have no problem with foreign made goods, but have a big one about being lied to.
 
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