Gerber Gear has packed up decades of history in Tigard and moved into a new 80,000-square-foot facility in Wilsonville, consolidating its design, engineering, manufacturing and administrative teams under a single roof. The Oregon knife and outdoor gear company began operating at the new site on Nov. 3, 2026, according to the company.
The relocation ends Gerber's long run in Tigard, where the company had been based since the 1960s, according to Shop Eat Surf Outdoor. As reported by Wilsonville Spokesman, the new building brings together teams that previously operated across separate spaces, putting Gerber's entire design-to-production pipeline under one address for the first time.
One Building, Every Department
The new facility is meant to do more than just house staff — it also represents a bet on expanded capacity. The company made a significant investment in new manufacturing equipment and has expanded production capacity as part of the move, per SGB Media Online. The same report notes Gerber says it remains committed to designing and manufacturing products in Oregon, while also working with select manufacturing partners around the world to make products overseas.
Gerber has also set a sustainability marker tied to the new chapter: the company has stated a commitment to be zero waste by 2030, the outlet's report adds. A ribbon-cutting event was scheduled for Nov. 3, marking the official opening of the facility, according to EIN Presswire.
A Portland Ad Man's Knife Company
Gerber's roots trace back to 1939, when Portland's Joe Gerber took a risk and turned his advertising agency into a kitchen knife company, EIN Presswire reports. The company changed hands decades later when it was purchased by Fiskars of Finland in 1987, according to Tigard Life. Today Gerber's product line includes EDC pocketknives, fixed blade knives, multi-tools, hatchets, shovels, and camp kitchen cookware, per the same EIN Presswire report.
Ash Williams, Gerber's Global Head of Brand and Product, framed the move as a homecoming of sorts rather than a departure. “Oregon is where Gerber Gear was born and will remain our home for the foreseeable future,” Williams said, according to EIN Presswire. Williams added that the Wilsonville facility gives the team resources to continue designing and producing knives and tools while developing Oregon as a U.S. knife-making center, per the same statement.
Part of a Bigger Portland-Area Cluster
Gerber's move lands amid a broader concentration of blade manufacturing around the Portland metro. The region produces more than half of all American-made knives, Tigard Life reports, though no underlying data or methodology for that figure was provided. Local producers have also moved to formalize the industry's identity: in 2024, local knife producers formed the Portland Knife Makers' Center of Excellence, the outlet notes.
Other knife makers in the area illustrate the scale of that cluster. The Kai USA factory at 18600 SW Teton Avenue employs about 300 people, according to Tigard Life, while quality control and administration happens at CRKT's Tualatin headquarters, where the company employs about 50 people, the same report states. Gerber's own employment figures for the new Wilsonville site were not disclosed in available company statements.
