Back in 2011, Shinola was just four guys and a whiteboard, trying to come up with an organizational chart for their manufacturing startup. Fast-forward to 2017 and the Detroit-made luxury watch brand employs 650 people.

The company still hasn’t nailed that organizational chart. “Org charts are stupid anyway,” said Jacques Panis, president of Shinola, to a rapt crowd. Panis was interviewed by ASI’s Michele Bell, during the “Meet the Maverick” session at the 2017 ASI Power Summit at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego.One of the biggest questions about the company’s seemingly overnight success is simply: Why Detroit? “We stumbled into Detroit when it was at its lowest point,” Panis said. “We were laughed out of a lot of offices. Bringing a watch factory to Detroit was arguably crazy.”

But for Panis, it was all about bringing jobs back to America. And investing in the hard-working people of one of the United States’ traditional manufacturing centers just made sense. “It’s the people who’ve made Shinola what it is,” he added.

Despite bringing in $124 million in annual revenue, Shinola is not yet profitable. “We’re bleeding cash,” Panis admitted blithely. “It’s costly to do what we’re doing. Everything is at top-of-the-line quality. We’re cutting no corners.” However, Panis said Shinola has a strategy for reaching profitability within the next few years, if everything goes according to plan.

Panis is no stranger to the promotional products realm. His first real job – after making scratch as a ticket scalper – was working for North Carolina-based distributor Brand Fuel (asi/145025). “I attribute a lot of my success today to [the experiences I had] at Brand Fuel,” he said.

During his session, Panis encouraged promo professionals to consider sourcing from the U.S., rather than China, even if initial costs seem too steep. You just have to leverage the inherent narrative power of made-in-the-USA products, he said. That’s more valuable than focusing in on “the pennies and dollars,” Panis added.

Panis also emphasized the importance of cultivating your brand. “At the end of the day, all we have is our brand,” he said. Currently, Panis is so protective of the Shinola brand that he won’t allow another company’s name to appear on the dial, and the watches haven’t been available in the promotional products marketplace. “I can’t let the products be co-branded the way it happens in a lot of the industry,” he said. Panis added, however, that there are opportunities available to include Shinola products in corporate gifting programs.

Video: Jacques Panis Interview