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Segment 3, June 17th, 2023
What’s one of the most sold knife companies in the world? I bet you can’t guess?
We’re going to talk about it during this segment of the Carolina Outdoors. It was started 133 years ago, in a workshop near the French Alps. The knife maker was 18 years old and against the family’s wishes he began work on the making of a small pocket knife.
His name, Joseph Opinel. The knife? Affectionately known as Opinel No. 8. Ben Quesnel, Opinel Manager, joins the program & shares that over 300 million knives have been sold since 1890.
The famed Chamonix is near the original workshop where the company is still based. France is known for food, wine, cheese, & knives. The four go together because the knives are tools that aid in food preparation, cheese slicing, wine bottle opening & the craftsmanship that goes into the making of knives.
At this time, the heritage brand, Opinel, is sold in over 70 countries around the world. Eighty percent of the materials that go into the knives come from France or a nearby European country.
The knives and innovation are ever changing with the company. Marcus Opinel, Joseph’s son, created the locking mechanism that are a part of the Opinel pocket knife in 1955. He added the Virobloc® system. He added a rotating ferrule which slid onto the fixed ferrule, closing the groove and thus locking the blade in the open position.
Lastly, the economic and political changes that have happened in airports across the globe continue to grow demand. Many times TSA agents and their counterparts will take knives when people accidentally try to make their way through security. This causes Opinel clients to return to outdoor stores, like Jesse Brown’s in Charlotte, to purchase another affordable knife from Opinel.
Opinel operates within utility, tactical, gift, & culinary knives. They continue to be one of the best, most demanded knives in the world.