Brand Story

While 711L might be best known for our series of super tiny EDC ratchet wrenches, our brand story starts with the Lollipop bit driver.

The story begins: the Lollipop bit driver

When Kenny and Leo, the founders of 711L, first met at a 3D printing event, they recognized a shared passion for 3D printing and all kinds of EDC tools. When Kenny showed Leo his prototype of the Lollipop bit driver they realized this was the quantum leap in functional design that screwdrivers had needed for over 100 years!

Answering Engineering Challenges

The lollipop bit driver design answered the engineering challenge Kenny wanted to solve – the difficulty of increasing torque while keeping tools small and portable. The lightbulb moment was the idea of a fold out lever to add mechanical advantage to the screwdriver format. Durability, usefulness and aesthetic appeal are additional core features of the lollipop bit driver that Kenny and Leo believe every tool should have.

Launching the Brand

Taiwan’s local market was not big enough to support the design and manufacturing costs to develop Kenny’s numerous innovative concepts, so in 2019 Kenny and Leo launched the 711L brand to bring their innovative, small hand tools for EDC to global customers.

Engineering skills, love of innovation and real-world experience of needing to get jobs done quickly and efficiently have been the foundation of Kenny and Leo’s ability to bring paper sketches to life in the hands of the world’s tool aficionados.

Taiwanese Manufacturing Excellence for EDC Tools

Based in Taiwan, powerhouse of global high quality engineering and manufacturing, and home of engineering super companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC), 711L rubs shoulders with giants in international engineering supply chains.

The Local Supply Chain Difference

Just as TSMC has its complete supply chain within a close circle of technology companies, we have all our professional, specialized, trust-worthy precision manufacturing partners within 50 miles of our headquarters.This is why we are able to get rapid access to the best quality materials, and the finest manufacturing processes in the world, enabling us to design, engineer, iterate, and realize our dreams of perfectly designed, perfectly functional hand tools for everyone.

Creatures evolve in the process of interacting with the environment they live in, tools should also keep evolving even after they are created, in the interactions between users, workplaces, and engineers.

Kenny Yan

How did 711L EDC tools evolve?

The integration of ideas, design, and functionality in EDC tools grew as Kenny and Leo developed the mini ratchet series, a properly functional Y-driver, and torque drivers for different scenarios. Our tools are like Lego blocks: each one exists and functions in its own right, but can be connected to another one or more tools to build a different and powerful tool combination.

Users can make their own combinations to adapt to the jobs they need to tackle. The last five years have been a period of dedicated development and refinement of tools, driven by the relentless enthusiasm of Kenny and Leo to keep making EDC tools that put effortless power in the palm of your hand.

Tools That Keep Improving

Even after a tool is released, we don’t stop there. We listen to user feedback from all over the world, and hear real world experience from the EDC community. It is through your voices that we keep our tools evolving (well, sometimes we upgrade them anyway… just because).

Four versions of the flat end ratchet wrench since its debut in 2021,
a fifth version is on its way!

Meet the founders of 711L

Former tour guide, engine technician, and DIY 3D printer maker. Author of 30+ patents with 20+ years of engineering experience in the RC model and bicycle industries.

Kenny has been designing lightweight, robust, engineering solutions as for major international manufacturers since he started out as an engineer more than twenty years ago. Kenny has a strong grounding in materials technology from working with global bike brands, solving specific problems and challenges in engineering and tooling for high end products.

Former exhibition curator, 3D printing teacher & designer of 3D printed accessible museum exhibits and aids for the visually impaired.

Leo was a curator at the National Taiwan Science Education Center, where he found his toolbox grew in size and weight with new tools needed for each exhibition. This got him thinking about lighter, flexible, convenient EDC tool alternatives that wouldn’t compromise on the quality required to do an excellent job.