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What is the Point of the EDETC (Everyday EveryThing Carry) Movement?
When can we say that a product category has lost the plot, versus "evolving?"
The EDC movement has long fascinated me. Not because I'm a proponent—I only carry a single thing that could be called a multitool, and I rarely use it outside of my house—but because of the sheer size of the market, the resources poured into it, and the fanatic level of both design attention and consumer attention poured into their products.
But I do think, as a category, they've lost the plot. Initially, the entire point of EDC was that there were one or two things you carried every day that might come in handy in a jam. These things fit in a pocket. Now, however, the amount of objects to be carried so far exceeds normal pocket count, that supporting industries have popped up to provide vessels for it all. Thus we have objects like this Vault 2.0 carrying case, for when you want to tote 120-plus objects:
This Storm Jacket, with 18 pockets:
A company called Viperade, who self-describes as "pioneers in redefining EDC storage platforms," offers a dizzying array of pouches, slings, sheathes, holsters, organizers, fanny packs, zipper cases etc., "to serve different environments:"
To be clear, I don't hate on any of these companies; they're selling pickaxes to the miners. My question is: What is the gold that EDC fanatics are seeking to mine? Is it just about collecting, like with Star Wars figures? Is it about peace-of-mind for a hypothetical apocalypse? Or is the goal to actually get into all of the jams that would necessitate using these tools?
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Comments
American man-purse?
I think this is rooted in a culture of being proudly independent and self-reliant, as well as a love of innovative tools. Some EDC gear is almost art.
This market used to be interesting but now it's a joke... Who is carrying around 3 knives, 4 pens and a zippo all day?? Half of these are bigger than a Craftsman tool-belt attachment.
The more you know the less you need.
Reminds me of my button down shirt pocket in ‘64 (Jr High).
I am a person who buys jackets based on how many pockets they have, and every pocket in every jacket of mine has something useful in it. I had not heard of EDC before this. I don't think I would buy any of these things except the jacket, but I like the concept.
I think you assessment is correct - they've move beyond a useful pocket widget to a Small Tools" category with tacticool branding. I feel you could take any existing small tool, bead-blast it and call it EDC.
I had a Swiss army knife since I was 9yo, and switched to a Leatherman 10 years ago because its stronger (or I'm rougher). .. but anything else, I'll grab my toolbox.
I just carry a Victorinox like a normal person, it opens beer and wine bottles, opens blister packaging and paint cans, strips wires, slices apples and salamis.
I think a lot about the scene from Steven Baxter’s Manifold books… the setup is kind of convoluted, but basically this planet is sort of collecting samples of hominids across various dimensions, so you have modern humans encountering Neanderthals, cro magnons, Australopithecus, etc.
The ultimate end user would be the TSA in their stuff left behind or confiscated at airport security.
Strongly agree. But... when you package it all into one storage vessel it now becomes the one thing that you carry. ha ha
I feel like this is parallel to the trend in the truck market that you have to have a giant truck because you never know when you are going to need to move a barn.
It's this. You've nailed it.
Maybe people that are on the move and are fixing things from their truck? But then you'd have a truck toolbox. Or maybe they have to park their trucks really far away from the work site and they need these?
My mechanic carries a Leatherman-style tool even when he's in his Snap-On-equipped commercial workshop... He says sometimes he'll be under a vehicle and it's easier for him to use a multitool than it is to slide out, get up and fetch a tool from the cabinet.
As a borderline hermit and one man company, I feel like I'm at the extreme end of the volume of stuff one could reasonably consider every day carry, and even I never pack more than fits in my cargo pockets. There's a huge jump in quantity of tools needed to tackle everything versus most things.
A lot of these start to look like the tool belts used by construction workers. In that context, would a hammer, pencil, speed square, knife, bag of screws/nails, etc be considered everyday carry?
Makes sense to me!