Skip to main content

Leatherman is making the best charm bracelet ever, out of screwdrivers

Leatherman is making the best charm bracelet ever, out of screwdrivers

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

One of the oldest things I still own, an early gift from my parents, is a blue Leatherman Mini-Tool. Growing up, I used it constantly for a strange mix of projects: taking apart simple gadgets, measuring fabric for sewing, and peeling (technically) edible bark off trees to practice wilderness survival, among other things. But I also always pined for a much more traditional pre-teen luxury: a charm bracelet. These weren't as different as they seem; they were cute, shiny, modular windows into the world of adulthood. But apparently, if I'd grown up a decade or two later, I could have had both at the same time.

Leatherman Tread

Leatherman can talk all it wants about how the Tread started as a bike chain, or a way to make something that would get through airport security. That thing is a charm bracelet. It's got a bunch of little custom pieces that you fit together on your wrist, except that instead of hearts and flags and peace symbols, you've got screwdrivers, bottle openers, a "carbide glass breaker," and a watch attachment. For all I know, it works as brass knuckles too. If Leatherman had released it while I was a teenager, instead of making us wait for this summer, I'd have been trying to scrounge up enough pieces to turn it from a wristband into a choker. Maybe both! Either way, my screwdriving and glass-breaking skills would have been fashionable and unstoppable.