Partners: Victorinox

Victorinox is a global company and the marketer and manufacturer of innovative, premium products. We market our products to 120 countries across all five continents via a worldwide network of distributors, wholly owned subsidiary partner companies and our own flagship stores in London, New York and Japan. 2009 is our 125th anniversary year and the celebration has reached around the world. In Autumn Victorinox will open it's first Swiss flagship store in Geneva.

The Victorinox product mix includes Swiss Army Knives, Fashion, Household and Professional Knives, Timepieces, Travel Gear and Fragrance. Every product embodies the spirit of the legendary Original Swiss Army Knife. Victorinox products offer unparalleled quality, functionality, durability and iconic design. These values have helped Victorinox achieve remarkable international sales and become a brand leader for consumers around the globe for over a century.

Functional, contemporary design is paramount to Victorinox, in this respect the brand sits comfortably among the famous Swiss design community. In Feburary 2009 Victorinox was a proud Associate Partner of Le Corbusier: Art of Architecture exhibition. For London Design Festival Victorinox has partnered with Wallpaper* magazine to create the project 'Wallpaper* Cuts', in support of new design talent, with a limited edition series, merging the heritage of the Swiss Army Knife to the contemporary mood of graphic design.

Victorinox is a traditional Swiss company and family owned, which has maintained its independence for 125 years. Its factory has been built stage by stage in response to demand over the years, expanding the original site at Ibach and creating a dynamic production facility which supports both traditional craft and technological innovation in the manufacture of goods.

Victorinox is a pioneer in environmental protection and recycling. Protecting our environment is vital and Victorinox has been and continues to be a leader in this critical area. For example we heat our production plant and 120 nearby apartments at our site in Ibach using almost exclusively waste heat from the plant. Accordingly, we use virtually no heating oil. Our company has also carried out pioneering work in the field of recycling: we played an important part in the development of recycling plants for grinding sludge. We now send 600 tons of grinding sludge a year for recycling.

We have also implemented company-wide policy for disposing of liquid and solid materials. Ecological criteria are a priority in our materials purchasing and processing. We process no heavy metals at all.

Our ‘eco-credo’ extends to packaging – we use recyclable PET for our blister packs, 90% recycled paper in our cardboard packaging. We utilize non chlorine bleached paper for user instructions and other printed materials. These tough standards apply to our international subsidiaries abroad. In fact, the whole Victorinox group is governed by the strict environmental regulations that apply in Switzerland.