{"id":36275,"date":"2017-07-06T12:02:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T11:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/?p=36275"},"modified":"2017-07-13T15:22:50","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T14:22:50","slug":"shinola-bolt-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/shinola-bolt-detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Shinola: The bolt from Detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"
Founded just six years ago in 2011, Detroit-based Shinola has hit the UK like a lightning bolt; an appropriate metaphor given that the American watch and lifestyle brand uses the flash of lightning as its logo. Beaverbrooks, Ernest Jones and Goldsmiths are already working with the company, and that is just the start of Shinola\u2019s growth plans for the UK, as WatchPro managing editor rob corder discovered in conversation with the company\u2019s global president Jacques Panis.<\/strong><\/p>\n Shinola is a start up with a serious pedigree, sophisticated manufacturing capabilities and access to finance that is unimaginable to most fledgling brands. The story of Shinola dates back to 2011 Detroit, where its parent company Bedrock Manufacturing is based. Bedrock Manufacturing is a private equity, venture capital and brand development firm, but it brings more than just financial backing to Shinola because Bedrock is the brainchild of Tom Kartsotis, the original founder of multi-billion-dollar watch company Fossil Group.<\/p>\n Bedrock is effectively the holding company of Shinola, and is the second major brand developed by the investment firm after the successful acquisition and turnaround of Filson, an American outdoor fashion and leather goods company that can trace its history back to the 19th century. It also launched Bedrock Watch Company earlier this year with a plan to manufacture watches in partnership with Tom Ford, the legendary fashion designer and movie director.<\/p>\n The name Shinola, folklore has it, was chosen for its no-nonsense connotation to Americans who can remember a shoe polish company of the same name. The shoe polish business has long gone, but Americans of a certain age still use the phrase, \u2018you don\u2019t know shit from Shinola\u2019 to describe somebody that doesn\u2019t understand the difference between something good \u2013 shoe polish \u2013 and something less useful at shining footwear.<\/p>\n In more British language, Shinola stands for quality and reliability. The Shinola watch company is so confident about the quality and reliability that it offers a lifetime guarantee on all its timepieces.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Shinola brand was conceived in 2011 with the notion that we would build watches in the United States, more specifically in Detroit. We knew from the get go that we did not just want to be a watch company, we wanted to be a multi-category product brand with a design focus creating extraordinarily high quality goods here in the US,\u201d explains Jacques Panis, president of Shinola.<\/p>\n