StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Leatherman Tool Group

also referred to as: leatherman

13 statements across 1 episodes · 4 bullish · 0 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement Jan 31, 2022 by Tim Leatherman · said 42 times in 7 episodes since 2020 · across every show →

Mentions by year

brought up most by Guy Raz (35), Tim Leatherman (5), Mike Radenbaugh (1)

tap a year for its mentions
00202403202020212022202320242025episodesmentions
023202020212022202320242025episodes it came up in
007.51.5153202020212022202320242025episodesmentions per episode
2025 1 mention in 1 episode
2024 1 mention in 1 episode
2023 1 mention in 1 episode
2022 38 mentions in 3 episodes 13 per episode
2020 1 mention in 1 episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Leatherman Tool Group, oldest first

Jan 31, 2022
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leatherman received zero responses from 279 of 280 early catalog pitches
“So we found a list of 280 different mail order catalogs. We got zero responses from 279.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 38:11 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022 neutral
Insight
Tim Leatherman: Competing catalogs monitored each other and rushed to buy hot products
“It turned out that the catalogs were all monitoring each other, and if they got a sense there was a hot product, then they all wanted on board. Then we started getting calls from all these catalogs that had turned us down before or hadn't even responded.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 46:34 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022
Assertion Supported
Leatherman Tool Group generates low nine figures in annual revenue
“Yeah, I've admitted, I've, I'm quite ready, willingly to admit, because it is pretty well publicized that we're in the very low nine figures of revenue.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 1:00:11 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leatherman: Original multi-tool required two to three hours of labor per unit
“Well, if you think of the labor hours, those days, labor, like, pretty good wages and manufacturing jobs were like five dollars an hour, so, you know, we had two, two or three hours of labor in every tool.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 42:36 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022 positive
Assertion Supported
Tim Leatherman: All assembly and most manufacturing stay in Portland factory
“We do all the assembly ourselves, and the vast majority of the manufacturing ourselves in our own factory in Portland, Oregon.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 50:21 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022
Assertion Supported
Leatherman produces nearly three million multi-tools annually
“Yeah, so that two million tools a year is now closer to three million tools a year.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 1:00:00 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022
Assertion Supported
Leatherman: International exports account for about 30% of sales
“I'm quite proud that about 30% of those sales are export sales, and for an American company 30% of sales being international is, is pretty good.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 1:00:21 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022
Assertion Supported
Cabela's Placed Leatherman's First Purchase Order: 500 Tools for $12,000
“And one day, in late May of 1983, eight years after I had first thought of the concept, I got a letter at my business address, which was really my home address. I opened it up, and inside was a purchase order. For 12,000 dollars. For 500 tools.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 40:59 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tim Leatherman: First full year yielded $680,000 in revenue and a profit
“In that first year of 30,000 tools of sales, we had about 680,000 dollars of revenue, and actually made a few dollars.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 49:01 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022 positive
Assertion Supported
A labeling lawsuit pushed Leatherman to source enough domestic parts for 'Made in USA'
“It spurred us into being more resolute and seeking more domestic suppliers and adding even more U.S. Content into our tools so that we can, in most of our tools now, we can label them as Made in USA.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 52:45 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022
Assertion Supported
Leatherman: Company Sued and Won Against Retailers Selling Counterfeit Tools
“We used to file lawsuits against the importers and the retailers that were selling the knockoffs. It really wasn't possible to go after the manufacturers in China, and we were quite successful in those lawsuits for quite a few years.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 53:40 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leatherman grew production from 200 to one million tools in ten years
“We were able to go from 200 tools to, in 1983 to one million tools in 1993. Wow. Those were really exciting years with growth rates of 50% per year compounded.”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 48:16 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Jan 31, 2022 neutral
Assertion Supported
Tim Leatherman: First tool sale was $175 to San Francisco mechanic
“He was a German immigrant. He had moved to San Francisco, and he had started a auto repair business. Repairing high-end German automobiles. His name was Wolf Schultz Tottenpach, and he agreed to pay 175 dollars. To buy a knife I would, that I would go back and…”
Tim Leatherman Jan 31, 2022 ▶ 36:42 Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 800 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more