There is a tendency among the EDC community to fetishize the things people carry in their pockets. You hear people throwing around absurd mantras like “two is one, one is none” (meaning that you should always carry a backup, because when your primary fails it’s tantamount to never having that primary in the first place). This might be useful for Navy SEALS, when equipment failure could mean the death of you and your team, but it’s a bit over the top when your primary mission is to cut open a package or find your lost keys in a poorly lit parking lot. As a result you see pocket dumps containing two flashlights, two knives, two multitools, etc. There are also certain people who see EDC as a kind of preparedness for survivalist or self-defense scenarios, so you’ll occasionally see some weapons or pocket first-aid kits.

While people like yourself may see these certain aspects of EDC not as a practice born of necessity, but rather a reflection of the person the carrier wishes they could be, I think the core philosophy of EDC is something that everyone can relate to. The idea of preparedness, self-sufficiency, and convenience. Not for some absurd hypothetical situation, but for the mundane necessities of your day-to-day existence. What are your keys, your cellphone, and your wallet? They’re tools that you use everyday. You’re already EDCing without even thinking about it. The rest of us just take it one step further. While you’re attempting to rip open a clamshell package with your hands or your keys, we use a knife. You’re fumbling for that keyhole late at night in the dim light of your cellphone, we have a flashlight. And when you need to wipe your nose and there isn’t a tissue in sight, go ahead and do it on the sleeve of that bespoke, dry clean only shirt. I have a handkerchief, and that bitch is washable.

MIND.BLOWN.