Gerber Legendary Blades
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| Corporation | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded |
Portland, Oregon 1939 |
| Headquarters | Tigard, Oregon |
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Key people
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Pete Gerber, Founder |
| Products | Knives |
| Revenue | US$100 million |
|
Number of employees
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300 |
| Parent | Fiskars |
| Website | www.gerbergear.com |
Gerber Legendary Blades is a maker of consumer knives and multitools headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, United States, within the Portland metropolitan area. Currently Gerber is a sub-division of Fiskars Brands Inc, owned by the Fiskars company of Finland. Gerber was established in 1939 by Pete Gerber. Gerber was the first production knife company to collaborate with a custom knife maker when it collaborated with David Murphy.
In 1910, the Gerber family started an advertising firm in Portland, Oregon. While working for the family business, Joseph Gerber mailed 24 sets of kitchen knives to clients during the holidays. These handmade knives were very popular, with then catalog retailer Abercrombie & Fitch requesting more of these knives from Gerber to sell in their catalog in 1939. Gerber started Gerber Legendary Blades that same year.
In 1966, the company relocated to a new headquarters next to Interstate 5 in what is now Tigard. Finnish company Fiskars purchased the private company in 1987. Chad Vincent was hired as chief executive officer in July 2001. By 2003 the company employed 300 people and had revenues near $100 million and was the second leading seller of multitools in the United States.
Designers who have since designed knives for Gerber include: Bob Loveless, Paul Poehlmann, Blackie Collins, William Harsey Jr., Fred Carter, Rick Hinderer, Brad Parrish, Ernest Emerson and Matt Larsen. Former Gerber employees who started their own successful knife companies include Al Mar and Pete Kershaw. Gerber built a line of folding knives based on designs of Rex Applegate.Bear Grylls has helped design a line of survival knives and tools.
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Wikipedia