If you watched Sunday night's Oscar ceremony, you may have been scratching your head when "Green Book" director Peter Farrelly gave Detroit a shoutout, saying that something was saving the city during his acceptance speech.
What Farrelly did say onstage was, "Tom Kartsotis and Shinola watches, they're unbelievable, they're saving Detroit."
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While most Detroiters know what Shinola is, many people across the country may have been wondering what the company is, and is it really saving Detroit?
The company was launched in 2011 by Tom Kartosis of Bedrock Brands (who also co-founded Fossil) and it makes watches, bikes and fine leather goods. The company bought the name, Shinola, from an early 1900s shoe polish brand, according to "Business Insider."
None of the people involved with the company had ties to Detroit, but they liked what Detroit stood for and they committed to the city by providing jobs to residents and investing in infrastructure.
"Shinola is, and always has been, a job-creation vehicle, and our intention is to create jobs in this city we now call home," Shinola President Jacques Panis told Business Insider.
The company is primarily known for making high-end and expensive watches that are assembled at their Detroit factory. The watches range anywhere from $400-$1,200 and are sleek in design. The company also builds its own bikes that look like they came out of 1955, but cost more than $2,000.
Shinola has also explored audio, with record players and sound systems that are state of the art. And of course, fine leather goods, such as purses, wallets and belts are all very well made and tasteful.
Shinola's latest venture has been something totally unique to the company and city of Detroit. Last month the company opened the Shinola Hotel, an eclectic and boutique hotel in the heart of downtown Detroit that is supposed to represent everything that is Shinola.
While Shinola has brought more jobs to the city, picking Detroit as a location was a lot more calculated.
An unnamed employee told Crain's in 2012 that when Kartosis was choosing a city for the company, he ran test groups to get better information. He basically found out that people in Detroit were willing to pay more for a product just because it said it was "made in Detroit."
Shinola watches (and the rest of their products, frankly) have become such a premium brand and it is totally synonymous with the city of Detroit, likely prompting Farrelly to think that a watch company was saving a low-income city.
Most people didn't think about Farrelly's remarks on Shinola or Detroit, but Detroiters took to Twitter to complain about his statement.
Say what? Please stop with this disrespectful & hurtful narrative that we 1) need saving & 2) that billionaires are the ones to do it.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) February 25, 2019
We just need the 1% to stop taking our land for nothing + shifting our tax dollars towards for-profit development that makes them richer. https://t.co/6pWYVCutI1
They don’t care to seek it out. It doesn’t affect them in any way. They can grab a coffee, watch the Tigers, and buy Shinola and Bonobos downtown. Forget what’s going on near 7 Mile and Gratiot. https://t.co/nb0Hg4b37m
— Branden Hunter 🏁 (@JustCallmeBHunt) February 25, 2019
Shinola is actually a boutique watch brand aimed at hipsters owned by Fossil. It’s a marketing ploy to get people to low-quality watches at luxury prices and are a main figure in the gentrification of Detroit
— From Trick to Treat (@fromtapetotape) February 25, 2019
"Shinola watches....are saving Detroit?"
— Michael Proppe (@mikeproppe) February 25, 2019
-a man who has never been to Detroit but considers his $500 fashionable watch an act of charity
Shinola released a statement after the Oscars.
— Shinola (@Shinola) February 25, 2019