Leatherman founder reveals surprising inspiration behind multimillion-dollar company

TIM Leatherman was driving through Europe with an unreliable Fiat when he stumbled upon the plan that would make him rich.

IN 1975, Tim Leatherman and his wife Chau set off on a road trip that would change their lives and lead to a multimillion-dollar company.

And it’s all thanks to an unreliable, $300 Fiat 300.

For nine months, the young newlyweds travelled across Europe, staying in budget hotels and enjoying the trip of a lifetime in the cheap car they had picked up in Amsterdam.

There was only one problem — the car kept breaking down, and while Mr Leatherman, an engineering graduate, had the know-how to fix it, he didn’t have the right tools.

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During one of many breakdowns, he realised what he really needed was a pocketknife with built-in pliers.

That’s how the world’s first multi-tool, the Leatherman Pocket Survival Tool, was born — but it was far from an overnight success story.

“When we returned I asked my wife if I could build one of these tools, and she said, ‘Well, how long will it take?’ I said maybe a month, she said OK, and she went work to support us while I went to the garage, picked up a file and hacksaw and tried to build what was in my mind,” he told news.com.au.

A young Tim Leatherman with the Fiat 600 that launched an empire. Picture: Supplied

“Three years later I had a prototype I liked, so I made a slight miscalculation.

“At that point I thought all I had to do was take the patent to a company, and they’d decide to manufacture it and pay me lots of money, and we’d live happily ever after.”

But he was wrong.

What followed was years of frustrating back-and-forth with various companies over the definition of Mr Leatherman’s unique invention, with some claiming it was a knife, some that it was a tool, and others insisting it was a “gadget” — and that gadgets “won’t sell”.

“By now almost seven years had gone by and I’d almost given up,” Mr Leatherman admitted.

But Mr Leatherman’s friend Steve Berliner, who had been following his “lack of progress”, suggested they team up as business partners, and together they decided the key to success would be mail-order catalogues.

Eventually, after plenty of negotiation, a mail order company ordered 500 tools — then another 250, and then another 250.

Today the company is a household name. Picture: Supplied

Soon, thousands had been ordered, and the company was finally on its way.

In their first year of business, the pair hoped to sell 4000 tools.

Instead, they sold 30,000 — and would go on to sell more than a million over the next decade.

Today, Leatherman tools are sold around the world — and the company now turns over more than $140 million every year.

But Mr Leatherman said it had been a tough journey.

“Many people say it was an overnight success, but they don’t realise it came after eight years of trying,” Mr Leatherman said.

He said over the years there were “a few key moments” where he very nearly abandoned his passion project altogether.

“The worst was on the night before my 30th birthday when I was two years into the project,” he said.

Tim Leatherman is coming to Australia next month as part of his company’s 35th anniversary global tour. Picture: Supplied

“I actually went to bed and started crying, thinking I had wasted two years with nothing to show for it.

“But at the very beginning I established the goal of creating a prototype I liked and finding some way to commercialise it, so on the morning of my 30th I woke up to a new day, and I still had the same goal, so I went to work.”

Mr Leatherman will visit Australia next month as part of the as part of Leatherman’s 35th anniversary global tour.

For your chance to meet him during his trip, click here.

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