Inside Leatherman: Why America's Most Rejected Invention Changed the World

In 1983, Gerber passed on it. AT&T passed on it. The U.S. Army passed on it. For 8 years, every company Tim Leatherman approached rejected his invention. Today, 128 million of those tools have been sold in 80+ countries — and every single one is still assembled by hand in Portland, Oregon. This is the full story of Leatherman Tool Group: the broken-down Fiat 600 in Tehran that sparked the idea, the 3 years alone in a borrowed garage, the wall of rejection letters, and how one man's refusal to quit created the most copied multi-tool on earth — without ever moving production overseas. CHAPTERS 0:00: The Invention Everyone Rejected 1:46 The 1968 Fiat 600 That Started Everything 3:54 Three Years in a Borrowed Garage 5:36 The Wall of Rejection: Gerber, AT&T, and the U.S. Army 8:12 Steve Berliner and the Seventh Year 9:51 Christmas 1983: The First 500 Units 10:58 The Numbers That Built a Name 12:51 What the Rejection Letters Could Not See 14:43 Portland: While Every Other Brand Left 17:49 Inside the Factory: Still Made by Hand 20:20 40 Years On — Still Building 22:27 Close Your Eyes #industrialhistory #documentary #americanhistory #history #craftsman #snapon #kleintools #visegrip #leatherman #leathermanufacturing