Yes, You Really Can Get A Swiss Army Knife Without The Knife

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The Swiss Army Knife brand is known and respected throughout the world for producing multitool devices as tough as they are handy. That reputation has been earned over the course of more than a century of design and production, with Karl Elsener debuting the first version of the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife in 1884. As the name clearly states, Elsener's first product did indeed come with a knife blade folded into the brand's iconic, and its pointedly red body casing. In the years since, almost every single product bearing the Victorinox logo has featured a knife of some sort among the various other tools included. 

You'll note that we said "almost" every offering from Victorinox features a knife. That's because the legendary Swiss brand — which still proudly builds most of its products in Switzerland – recently announced the development of a new product line that does not include a knife blade. That surprising move was announced in 2024 by current Victorinox CEO Carl Elsener, who confirmed that, after more than a century of production, the company founded by his family was indeed pivoting towards the production of a bladeless Swiss Army Knife.

That fact, naturally, begs the question of whether the product should still carry that iconic name. Whatever the case, Victorinox has released its first bladeless multitool, the Jetsetter. Though it doesn't have a knife blade, the 7-function tool offers scissors, a nail file, a Phillips screwdriver head, tweezers, a toothpick, a bottle opener and a wire stripper.   

If you're curious about Victorinox's Jetsetter Swiss Army Knife, you can currently purchase one through the company's Amazon storefront for the very reasonable price of $24.99. The same is true of Victorinox's other knifeless offering, the SwissCard Nailcare package, which is credit card-shaped rather than the traditional Swiss Army pocket knife design, and will set you back about $34.90. 

Circling back to the Jetsetter device, according to Swiss Army Knife CEO Carl Elsener, the company had a very good reason for going into development on a knifeless product. Primarily, Elsener and the Swiss Army Knife team were looking to stay ahead of any potential new regulations concerning the carrying of bladed devices throughout the world. Those concerns arose amid a perceived rise in knife-related crime in certain of the world's markets. As Elsener pointed out, the mere inclusion of a knife blade on a multitool could give it the appearance of a weapon to some, and on top of staying ahead of any new regulations, the Swiss Army Knife also had a keen interest in altering that narrative.

Those potential issues were likely even more concerning for the Swiss Army Knife brand, as its bladed products were already listed among the various items that are no longer permitted to be carried onto airplanes for travel. Despite a pointy edge or two, the Jetsetter's lack of a proper blade solved that problem for Victorinox, and the iconic Swiss company didn't even need to reinvent the wheel to get it to market.