Shinola.watches, journals, leather goods and bicycles.no shoe polish anymore.

[mark the shoeshine boy]

You don't know S#*! from Shinola....well what use to be an American icon shoe polish is now back, same brand name but different products.

Yes they make watches

Yes they make journals

Yes they make Leather goods and these are made just 30 miles away from me. With some brand of leather, seems like I have heard of this tannery before...

Yes they make bicycles, too....


All of these goods are made in the USA....don;t complain about the prices...these workers have to eat, too.....

 

[morganjg]

They don't actually make bicycles, they market Shinola branded bikes assembled by them but produced by Waterford cycles in Wisconsin. Great frame builder, so I'm sure the bikes are splendid.
http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/content/shinolas-american-made-bikes-and-watches-now-being-built

 

[little Big feather]

They don't actually make watches. They assemble parts in the U.S., that are made in other countries into a finished watch.

 

[mark the shoeshine boy]

lol....let me beat y'all to the next one....they don't make the paper for the journals either...God made the trees for that....LOL

 

[cstone28]

I read an article on them a few months back in one of the trade watch mags. Interesting that they feel the made in Detroit is a bigger selling feature then made in the US. Not sure I get the idea behind taking a well known brand and flogging it for a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with what built the brand. Guess that's why I don't own a watch company or work in marketing.

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Interesting that they feel the made in Detroit is a bigger selling feature then made in the US.

I don't think it is a bad idea myself - Detroit is specific (compared to USA) and I think it has the whole gritty, rust belt, midwest thing going there. Somehow Detroit is masculine, kind of like Chicago or Milwaukee. Orlando does not say "masculine" to me.

 

[cstone28]

That was the impression the article left as well, the phoenix rising from the ashes and all that jazz. I'm not sure how well that transfers outside the US though. A lot of others remember Detroit as the place where those jokers came from with their private planes and then asked the government for a bunch of money because they took their eye off the ball and ran a lot of peoples lives into the ground.

Time will tell how it works out for Shinola and the rest of Detroit.

 

[mark the shoeshine boy]

Remember the Eminen Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler...it was all about Motor City....

 

[mark the shoeshine boy]

I was so excited to hear that our local manufacturer was a part of the Shinola group, that I wanted to post it here and share my enthusiasm. I am shocked by the negative feedback about it.

Eric Scott is only 30 miles away from me in southeast Missouri. They employ hard working people who pay taxes, buys goods and services and raise their children in a great community. We are not talking about a third world country employing children for pennies a day.

Quite frankly, I wished Shinola would round up all these manufacturers and make them vibrant once again.

Brown Shoe company and Trimfoot use to have small shoe factories all over rural America, now they are just importers. Our little towns use to bustle with jobs, maybe not the best paying, but the workers could afford a little house, a vehicle, and send their kids to school. Now these jobs are gone and there are many reasons why.

However, if Shinola and other companies could bring this back, so be it.

I was planning on visiting the factory on behalf of BB...but I am embarrassed to make contact with them now.

 

[luvmysuper]

Mark, There's always going to be the 1% who, when you give them a sandwich, complain that the bread is dry.
I think the majority of people here are wise enough to realize that this is a good thing, and the few that want to nit pick something to death will move on to the next objet du jour.
Generally, the attention span is as short as the list of legitimate complaints.

 

[Larry C in Texas]

Mark, I agree with you 100%. A lot of folks decry the exit of jobs out of the US and then when someone starts a new enterprise with US jobs, we get a lot of nit-picking talk. Any company that adds assembly jobs in the US, and especially in an area as depressed as Detroit, deserves out good wishes for success. I for one hope this company makes it, but I wouldn't bet on it due to their prices. Most folks are only interested in low prices, not where the product is made. Some talk the talk on buying US made, but when it comes to walking the walk, they buy lower price foreign made goods. I'm not specifically talking about anyone on our forum here, just the general populace.

You can see that when you go into any furniture store these days. Lots of Chinese made furniture on the floor, because the dealers can get it at the price point that people are willing to pay nowadays. US made is a lot more, and a majority of customers are not buying it. I'm not beating my chest here, but last week I bought a recliner and dining room set, and I made sure they were US made (albeit with leather on the recliner produced outside the US - mostly due to US environmental regulations, our leather tanners are gone), even though this cost me probably twice what foreign-made stuff would have cost. We went for quality and US made, after buying Chinese made furniture in the past and seeing how it held up.

YMMV, of course.

I was so excited to hear that our local manufacturer was a part of the Shinola group, that I wanted to post it here and share my enthusiasm. I am shocked by the negative feedback about it.

Eric Scott is only 30 miles away from me in southeast Missouri. They employ hard working people who pay taxes, buys goods and services and raise their children in a great community. We are not talking about a third world country employing children for pennies a day.

Quite frankly, I wished Shinola would round up all these manufacturers and make them vibrant once again.

Brown Shoe company and Trimfoot use to have small shoe factories all over rural America, now they are just importers. Our little towns use to bustle with jobs, maybe not the best paying, but the workers could afford a little house, a vehicle, and send their kids to school. Now these jobs are gone and there are many reasons why.

However, if Shinola and other companies could bring this back, so be it.

I was planning on visiting the factory on behalf of BB...but I am embarrassed to make contact with them now.

 

[cstone28]

By no means do I wish any ill will to the people of Shinola or the great people of Detroit, quite the contrary. The people of Detroit need as much help as they can get, automotive manufacture will never be what it once was and anything that brings paying jobs to the area is great. What I don't get and I'm not sure there will ever be an answer that satisfies me is, why use an established brand to sell something they aren't known for and why use a cities name who recently has been associated with poor quality, poor design, poor customer service, to sell things that demand excellence in all three.


As Larry says, I wish them well but doubt it will work.

 

[73mountaineer]

They don't actually make watches. They assemble parts in the U.S., that are made in other countries into a finished watch.

That's like saying Ford doesn't make cars because their suppliers actually make the components and send them to Ford for assembly. It makes no sense. If a company employs workers to assemble parts into a finished product, I would argue that they did in fact make the product. These people definitely seem to be making something.

 

[little Big feather]

You don't see the point people!!! I'm for MADE IN AMERICA....Shinola will hire a very minimal assembly work force and stress MADE IN DETROIT, in the U.S.A.
It is a gimmick to sale a product! It does not deserve that most sacred title MADE IN USA...The name chosen is a tongue-in-cheek putdown...
Most Americans don't know S**T from Shinola. Some of the products may be American made...Great....I said the watches are NOT MADE IN AMERICA.
The government of the U.S.A. agrees with me. That is why they put DETROIT on it...It is not about American pride, it is not about American jobs,
it is about the owners of Shinola to make allot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[luvmysuper]

You don't see the point people!!! I'm for MADE IN AMERICA....Shinola will hire a very minimal assembly work force and stress MADE IN DETROIT, in the U.S.A.
It is a gimmick to sale a product! It does not deserve that most sacred title MADE IN USA...The name chosen is a tongue-in-cheek putdown...
Most Americans don't know S**T from Shinola. Some of the products may be American made...Great....I said the watches are NOT MADE IN AMERICA.
The government of the U.S.A. agrees with me. That is why they put DETROIT on it...It is not about American pride, it is not about American jobs,
it is about the owners of Shinola to make allot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Thanks for the input. You've clearly made your opinion known, so let's give it a rest, eh?

 

[Argonaut]

Cool looking bikes. Ever since I was a kid, I never understood why the "Womens" bike is the one you won't crush the family heirlooms on. I'm sure it has something archaic to do with dresses and sidesaddle and all that, but where's the mens rights movement on this engineering oversight?
Back on topic, cool looking store and products, thanks for sharing.

 

[73mountaineer]

Cool looking bikes. Ever since I was a kid, I never understood why the "Womens" bike is the one you won't crush the family heirlooms on. I'm sure it has something archaic to do with dresses and sidesaddle and all that, but where's the mens rights movement on this engineering oversight?
Back on topic, cool looking store and products, thanks for sharing.

I have never understood that either.

Anything that increases manufacturing in the US is ok by me and they are making some really good-looking stuff. I could definitely see some of their goods finding its way into my house, especially the watches that they make, which are an exceptionally good-looking design to my eye.

 

[luvmysuper]

Anything that increases manufacturing in the US is ok by me and they are making some really good-looking stuff. I could definitely see some of their goods finding its way into my house, especially the watches that they make, which are an exceptionally good-looking design to my eye.

This is from their web site;

Our goal is to create Shinola products that are predominantly American made. Although a challenge today for numerous reasons, including the absence of at-scale American manufacturing for many of the components we need, we are working with like-minded partners to make it happen. At present, nearly all of our watchstraps, journals, and leather goods are sourced in the United States. Our watches and bicycles are 100% assembled in our Detroit factory with both domestic and internationally sourced components. Our hope is that we can cultivate a cottage industry of suppliers who will move their operations to Detroit in order to supply us with needed components. With hard work and collaboration, we believe we can establish ourselves as an iconic brand, while expanding the capacity—and reinvigorating the spirit—of manufacturing in America.

and

Based on the quality of the components and the craftsmanship that’s gone into their production—from the American-made frames and forks to the custom-level assembly in our Detroit workshop—our bicycles are actually an exceptional value. Nearly all bicycles on the market today are produced overseas—where manufacturing costs are significantly lower—but our goal is to create the highest quality bicycle we can right here in America, utilizing US-made frames, forks, and components whenever possible, and employing only highly-skilled craftspeople. We realize that our bicycles are at the higher end of the price spectrum for urban/city bicycles, but the value they represent is absolutely worth the asking price. A frame and fork built in the most experienced, high-end frame factory in America and a super high-quality specification and assembly in our Detroit workshop simply means that a Shinola bicycle is going to cost a little more. We might be partial, but we think it's well worth it.

Seems pretty straightforward and honest.

 

[Doc4]

This seems like a noble endeavour. Like all noble endeavours, it's a little bit strange, a little bit dotty, and facing a little bit (or more) of an uphill struggle to make a go of it. (I love Saphir shoe polish ... but would I buy a $500 watch and a $2,000 bicycle from them? Er ...). Now you can all start humming "The Impossible Dream".

But ... there are some motivated and dedicated people who happen to have their hands on the rudder of an American company, and they want to make quality goods right in their own back yard. Dang, I hope it works. Almost always, "they" don't make "them" like they used to, and when someone wants to dedicate himself to swimming against the current in this Walmart World, I'm all for it.

Good on ya, lads.

 

[mark the shoeshine boy]

I can understand those points....

Did you notice the watches were sold out? Perhaps the local community bought them up first...

There are other companies out there selling items at a premium and I hope they are doing good...ribbed t-shirts....and that other one...fitch and something luxury underwear....

Saphir polish....$15 bucks a can....for shoe polish...lol....and I love it....