Victorinox

[D.M. Procida]

I was surprised to find in our Clas Ohlson store a penknife for £5 that appears to be an exact copy of a Victorinox Spartan, except in baby blue rather than Swiss Army red.

I bought one to compare it. It lacks any Officier Suisse markings, and the toothpick and tweezers are a slightly stiffer fit, but otherwise it seems to be identical.

I'm puzzled mostly about the commercial implications. Why would Victorinox license their iconic design, but not their iconic branding, to a Swedish hardware chain? Or is something else going on?

Daniele

[Chris J Dixon]

In the same way that almost exact copies of the popular (but expensive) Felco secateurs are available for peanuts.

Chris

[charles]

fairly obviously most Chinese factories have two final outlets - allowing for "badge engineering".

[Andy Burns]

Expensive? You said it ...

[Andy Dingley]

Felcos are about =A340 (some cheaper, some more). Usable cheap Chinese pr= uners are =A310. Now there's clearly not 4x the manufacturing cost in the = Felcos, but my pair are already outlasting a third pair of cheap pruners an= d look likely to outlive several more.

OTOH, women don't generally like Felcos unless they've got particularly sma= ll hands and can use the small pairs. They only seem to make them in large = and small, not medium.

[Halmyre]

Excuse me while I pick my jaw off the floor. The price HAS to be a typo...doesn't it?

[D.M. Procida]

That certainly applies to many products, but the Victorinox design is an iconic classic, not some generic thing that a logo has been slapped onto.

Daniele

[A.Lee]

Just like the Apple iPads that are now copied, as are many hundreds of other items. BMW X5s too.

[Robin]

Not if it has cable by Russ Andrews ;)

[Chris J Dixon]

are £10. Now there's clearly not 4x the manufacturing cost in the Felcos, but my pair are already outlasting a third pair of cheap pruners and look likely to outlive several more.

I have no complaints about Felco, my No 2 is over 30 years old, and still going strong.

I also have one to a design which has no visible differences, which I picked up at a market stall about ten years ago for £2. It sits by the back door, to hand if I want to pop out and cut something from the garden. Naturally it sees less use than the real one, but so far still seems to be durable and keeps its edge OK.

Chris

[Peter Crosland]

99.99% sure to be a fake copy

[D.M. Procida]

Copied, yes, with various degrees of plausibility.

But not copied almost identically, so that the only difference is the branding. Pirate copies don't have completely different branding from the original they are trying to ape, and won't be sold by large Swedish hardware outlets.

Daniele

[Nightjar]

All the more reason for someone to copy it. Wenger made a good business from doing so, until they were acquired by Victorinox a few years ago.

At least if it is blue and has no logo you know it is a copy. There are probably counterfeit ones out there too.

Colin Bignell

[D.M. Procida]

Except it's not a fake.

It's not red, it doesn't bear any Victorinox branding or Officier Suisse markings, and it says in big letters: "Clas Ohlson".

Daniele

[RJH]

Are you sure there's any copyright at work here - perhaps the design can be legitimately copied, with imitation being flattery? Might seem a bit rude, granted.

Rob

[Nightjar]

There were two legitimate suppliers of Swiss army knives - the Original Swiss Army Knife, made by Victorinox, and the Genuine Swiss Army Knife, made by Wenger, until Wenger was taken over by Victorinox a few years ago. The Swiss army bought half its requirements from each supplier. The design is not protected, but the symbols on them, are trade marks - Victorinox using a Swiss cross in a shield and Wenger using a Swiss cross in a squarish shape.

Colin Bignell

[michael adams]

Its hardly an "iconic classic" given that so many variations are available.

All it is, is a penknife with a red handle and an inset Swiss flag and various combinations of stainless steel blades and implements which in the Victorinox version appear to hold an edge

The original was designed to Swiss Army specifications -

In January 1891 the knife received the official designation Modell 1890. The knife had a blade, reamer, can-opener, screwdriver and grips made out of dark oak wood that was later partly replaced with ebony wood.

thats two ground breaking inventions we can thank the Swiss for - cuckoo clocks and penknifes with a reamer, can-opener and screwdriver

michael adams

...

[D.M. Procida]

I don't see why that stops it being either iconic or a classic design.

Daniele

[John Williamson]

The only thing I'd be wary of is the metal they use to make the blades and other tools. Genuine Swiss Army knives hold a good edge for quite a while, cheap copies use softer steel, which goes blunt if you look at it too hard.

Which reminds me, I must find the fine diamond hone...

[Andy Burns]

After 20+ years the spring on the scissors of mine snapped ... not bad going I suppose. If I'd remembered the lifetime warranty I might have kept the broken bits.