George Melancthon Wetmore (August 31, 1858 June 10, 1923) was born in
Gates, New York and, after attending
military school, got a degree at the
Rochester Business Institute. At age 18, he went to work for the American Chemical Manufacturing and Mining Company, which was founded in
Rochester, New York (near
Brown's Race) in 1877. The company was primarily focused on
carpet cleaning, but sold several specialty products, including boot and shoe polish. Wetmore found that the polish was cheaply made, did not hold or bond well, and 95% of it was dyed black using
lamp black. Wetmore designed a replacement and initially called it SHINOL′A. In 1886, Wetmore was promoted to vice president, and a few years later, to president of the company. By 1909, the company had moved to a larger facility to handle increasing orders. Shinola polish was noted for its distinct dark green tin with red and gold lettering. The tin came with a patented key "for the convenient lifting of the lid". Shinola was produced in several colors: black, white,
oxblood, red, tan, and brown. Several Shinola-branded
shoe shining accessories were sold as well, such as
shoehorns and the Shinola Home Set which included a polisher, bristle dauber, and the polish itself. Known by 1917 as simply The Shinola Company, the firm saw success expand globally, selling especially well in Europe, during the rise of
World War I as many young men entered the military and were expected to be well-dressed during training. The company used a series of slogans to promote the product. For example, “Makes old shoes look like new. Keeps new shoes from looking old.” It became the largest manufacturer of the product in the world circa 1917, being carried into war by
doughboys. In the 1940s, the polish became a product of
Best Foods and was renamed to Shinola (losing the apostrophe).
Corn Products Company of
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey later merged with Best Foods, and sold tins of the product as "New Shinola Wax", featuring a revised formula, as well as selling in a liquid form. 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). By the 1950s, it was sold as "Shinola Leather and Saddle Soap" by RIT Products, a division of Best Foods. In 1960, the company went out of business and the brand ceased to be produced. In 2011, venture capitalist
Tom Kartsotis bought the rights to the brand name, and created
a new retail company. The company was founded in 2012, and produces watches and leather goods. ==Cultural impact==