Shinola (shoe polish)

Shinola

Original tin of Shinola shoe polish
Products	shoe polish

Shinola was a twentieth-century shoe-polish company that went out of business in 1960. The brand name was acquired by Shinola Detroit in 2011.

The name "Shinola" was trademarked in 1903, and the shoe polish company of that name was founded at 822 Jay Street, Rochester, New York in 1907. The name was thereafter acquired and a new company revived under the old name. It gained popularity during World War I and World War II as an effective shoe polish. The original trademark was filed to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1929 and registered in 1930 by '2 IN 1-SHINOLA-BIXBY CORPORATION' (NJ, USA). According to a review in the trade magazine Commercial America, the tin polish container was notable for having a "key" that could be turned to separate the lid from the can, an innovation of the time. In a 1945 ad that ran in Popular Mechanics magazine, Shinola marketed itself as a wax that could also be used as a polish for scratches in furniture, a polish for linoleum, and a finish for toy models (e.g. airplanes).

Ultimately, the company went out of business in 1960.

Shinola Detroit has added a shoe polish to its product line. It is touted as better than the original, and produced "in small batches in Chicago by C.A. Zoes Manufacturing, a family-owned company since 1905."