I am writing this week's column from the great state of Michigan, in the City of Detroit, the Motor City famous for urban decay, bad politics and hopelessness among many of the inner city population. By the way, Detroit is also known for automobiles, and with the recovery and restructuring of the auto companies, the city is on an uptick.

Arriving here, I reflected on what a great airport there is, how nice the skyline looked (at least from a distance) and, how everyone—and I mean everyone—is talking about Shinola, the old World War II shoe polish company that now represents the Renaissance of Detroit.

The Shinola story is all about watches—along with marketing Detroit, selling Detroit and attempting to build the first great nonautomotive brand out of the city in decades. Bill Clinton recently purchased more than a dozen $550 Shinola watches, and he hawked the company's story in speeches, declaring: "We need more American success stories like Shinola in Detroit."

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.