Detroit design brand Shinola pays tribute to its hometown’s sporting heritage with its handcrafted leather goods.

Detroit is a city with a glorious sporting history. It is one of only 12 US cities with teams in four major North American sports: the Lions in football, the Tigers in baseball, the Red Wings in ice hockey and the Pistons in basketball. In the spring/ summer season of 1936, Detroit was home to the defending champions in the NFL, NHL and MLB simultaneously, which led it to be nicknamed the “City of Champions”. In short, it is a city that expects to win. But you have to go back to 2008, when the Red Wings were commanders of the ice, for the city’s last trophy.

Since then, Detroit has experienced catastrophic economic hardship, hitting rock bottom in 2013 when it filed for bankruptcy. But sporting legacies die hard among Detroit’s citizens, and in the past two years the city has enjoyed a bold resurgence of pride and investment. One of its success stories is Shinola, the watch, bicycle and leather goods manufacturer, which has brought “maker” culture back to the city with its artisanal approach to luxury manufacturing.

In honour of Detroit’s sporting history and fighting spirit, Shinola has issued a series of classic sporting goods, including individually handcrafted baseballs with waxed linen thread and premium leather, lace-up basketballs made from top-quality tanned leather, and rawhide lace and individually hand-cut and sewn footballs with highly durable polyester thread. They may hark back to a time when Detroit’s teams were expected to bring home the gold, but they also look forward to a future that honours exquisite handmade processes over mass production.

Shop the Shinola collection