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Shinola (retail company) AI simulator
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Shinola (retail company) AI simulator
(@Shinola (retail company)_simulator)
Shinola (retail company)
Shinola is an American lifestyle brand based in Detroit, Michigan. It produces and sells watches, bicycles, leather goods, clocks, home goods, and jewelry. Founded in 2011, Shinola takes its name from a common saying that harkens back to the defunct Shinola shoe polish company. The company was founded by Tom Kartsotis and is owned and operated by Texas-based investment group Bedrock Group LP.
The original Shinola shoe polish brand was founded in Rochester, New York in 1877, and went out of business in 1960. The Detroit-based retail company was founded in 2011 by Tom Kartsotis under his investment company, Bedrock. Kartsotis, previously a founder of Fossil Group, wanted to create a high end American watch manufacturing brand to rival Swiss watchmakers at a lower price point. Bedrock decided to acquire the Shinola brand after an associate used the World War I-era expression "You don't know shit from Shinola" as a rejoinder to Kartsotis's stated ambitions for the company. Unexpectedly, the joke generated a serious discussion about restoring the Shinola brand. Market surveys established that when faced with a choice of paying $5 USD for a pen from China, $10 USD for one made in the United States, and $15 USD for a pen made in Detroit, consumers would be willing to pay a premium for the last one.
Every Shinola watch is technically assembled in the United States. However, many parts used in Shinola watches are manufactured in Europe, China, and Thailand. Certain components' factories are owned by companies based in Switzerland. At the time of the company's founding in 2011, no American watchmaker had produced watches at scale since the late 1960s, with U.S.-based watchmaking relegated to select specialty companies such as RGM in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Shinola's tagline was "Where American is Made", but that was abandoned after the Federal Trade Commission requested changes in certain marketing and labeling practices. The company has actively utilized Detroit's reputation as a worldwide manufacturing hub in its marketing of the brand.
The company's headquarters and watch factory are housed within the College for Creative Studies (CCS) on the fourth and fifth floors of the Alfred A. Taubman Building in Detroit, a former automotive research lab. Shinola's occupation of the CCS space at first occurred by accident when Bedrock officials, seeking a manufacturing site after resolving to rebuild Shinola, visited the College and the elevator unexpectedly opened on the fifth floor, which was vacant at the time. They decided to transform the 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of vacant space into their watch factory and company headquarters. To build out the watch factory, the company partnered with Ronda, which also brought in expert watchmaking veterans to train Shinola's watch assemblers, all of whom had no prior experience in watchmaking. Currently, the factory has the capacity to finish the assembly of 500,000 watches in a production year.
Most of the workers assembling watches are local to Detroit, and many of them come from automotive manufacturing. Since the company's founding in 2011, it has grown to over 400 employees as of 2021.
In 2021, Shinola partnered with Crate & Barrel to create a 115-piece furniture line and with the Ford Motor Company to create a concept for the Lincoln Aviator at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Shinola began by producing watches with quartz analog movements. The company's first watch was released in March 2013. Produced in an edition of 2,500 and available in two sizes, The Runwell Limited Edition 47mm sold out in one week, with the last 40mm watch selling out in under two weeks. The watches were priced at $550, with approximately 35% of the sales coming from Michigan.
In December 2013, Shinola released its second limited edition watch, The Wright Brothers Limited Edition watch. It is the first watch in the Great Americans Series, which was released in conjunction with a limited edition bicycle. The series has released subsequent watches honoring other Great Americans, including Henry Ford (2014), Muhammad Ali (2015), Maya Angelou (2016), Jackie Robinson (2017), the Statue of Liberty (2018), Minoru Yamasaki (2019) and Motown legend Smokey Robinson (2020). The 2021 collection honors Jake Burton Carpenter, founder of Burton Snowboards.
Shinola (retail company)
Shinola is an American lifestyle brand based in Detroit, Michigan. It produces and sells watches, bicycles, leather goods, clocks, home goods, and jewelry. Founded in 2011, Shinola takes its name from a common saying that harkens back to the defunct Shinola shoe polish company. The company was founded by Tom Kartsotis and is owned and operated by Texas-based investment group Bedrock Group LP.
The original Shinola shoe polish brand was founded in Rochester, New York in 1877, and went out of business in 1960. The Detroit-based retail company was founded in 2011 by Tom Kartsotis under his investment company, Bedrock. Kartsotis, previously a founder of Fossil Group, wanted to create a high end American watch manufacturing brand to rival Swiss watchmakers at a lower price point. Bedrock decided to acquire the Shinola brand after an associate used the World War I-era expression "You don't know shit from Shinola" as a rejoinder to Kartsotis's stated ambitions for the company. Unexpectedly, the joke generated a serious discussion about restoring the Shinola brand. Market surveys established that when faced with a choice of paying $5 USD for a pen from China, $10 USD for one made in the United States, and $15 USD for a pen made in Detroit, consumers would be willing to pay a premium for the last one.
Every Shinola watch is technically assembled in the United States. However, many parts used in Shinola watches are manufactured in Europe, China, and Thailand. Certain components' factories are owned by companies based in Switzerland. At the time of the company's founding in 2011, no American watchmaker had produced watches at scale since the late 1960s, with U.S.-based watchmaking relegated to select specialty companies such as RGM in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Shinola's tagline was "Where American is Made", but that was abandoned after the Federal Trade Commission requested changes in certain marketing and labeling practices. The company has actively utilized Detroit's reputation as a worldwide manufacturing hub in its marketing of the brand.
The company's headquarters and watch factory are housed within the College for Creative Studies (CCS) on the fourth and fifth floors of the Alfred A. Taubman Building in Detroit, a former automotive research lab. Shinola's occupation of the CCS space at first occurred by accident when Bedrock officials, seeking a manufacturing site after resolving to rebuild Shinola, visited the College and the elevator unexpectedly opened on the fifth floor, which was vacant at the time. They decided to transform the 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of vacant space into their watch factory and company headquarters. To build out the watch factory, the company partnered with Ronda, which also brought in expert watchmaking veterans to train Shinola's watch assemblers, all of whom had no prior experience in watchmaking. Currently, the factory has the capacity to finish the assembly of 500,000 watches in a production year.
Most of the workers assembling watches are local to Detroit, and many of them come from automotive manufacturing. Since the company's founding in 2011, it has grown to over 400 employees as of 2021.
In 2021, Shinola partnered with Crate & Barrel to create a 115-piece furniture line and with the Ford Motor Company to create a concept for the Lincoln Aviator at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Shinola began by producing watches with quartz analog movements. The company's first watch was released in March 2013. Produced in an edition of 2,500 and available in two sizes, The Runwell Limited Edition 47mm sold out in one week, with the last 40mm watch selling out in under two weeks. The watches were priced at $550, with approximately 35% of the sales coming from Michigan.
In December 2013, Shinola released its second limited edition watch, The Wright Brothers Limited Edition watch. It is the first watch in the Great Americans Series, which was released in conjunction with a limited edition bicycle. The series has released subsequent watches honoring other Great Americans, including Henry Ford (2014), Muhammad Ali (2015), Maya Angelou (2016), Jackie Robinson (2017), the Statue of Liberty (2018), Minoru Yamasaki (2019) and Motown legend Smokey Robinson (2020). The 2021 collection honors Jake Burton Carpenter, founder of Burton Snowboards.