Shinola’s Muhammad Ali Collection Is a Total Knockout
Cassius Clay women’s sweatshirt $180, shinola.com
Muhammad Ali is considered the Greatest of All Time, and now you can honor his legacy by wearing it on your sleeve. The fine folks at Shinola have partnered with the champ’s Lexington, KT-based Muhammad Ali Center to create a limited-edition run of American-made products would make anyone look like a TKO gift-giver. They include his or hers Cassius Clay sweatshirts, gorgeous boxing gloves (designed for display, not for sport), miniaturized boxing glove paperweights, photography books, and a terry cloth robe so you (or your Dad) can imagine envision what it feels like to step into the ring.
Great American Series: The Muhammad Ali Center Limited Edition Watch, $2,250, shinola.com
The real marquee pieces, though, are the ones that are made in Detroit by the masters themselves. The Muhammad Ali bicycle is kitted out for urban explorers and serves as a tribute to the legend’s six core principles (conviction, respect, dedication, confidence, giving, spirituality). Meanwhile, the limited-edition watch (400 were made but they are going fast) is hand-crafted featuring Swiss engineering. A dedicated assembly line of roughly 100 people tinker with the timepiece until it is perfect and ready to be placed in a special hickory box which also contains three rarely seen photographs of Ali signed by acclaimed photographer Thomas Hoepker.
Shinola leather boxing gloves, $500, shinola.com
Having been lucky enough to attend the launch party of this particular project in Detroit, I must say that much like the Muhammad Ali Center, which gives awards to impressive civic-minded individuals, Shinola’s sense of social responsibility is as impressive as the pieces the company creates. Not only does a portion of the proceeds go to the Muhammad Ali Center, but the evening also featured a live auction that raised money for the Downtown Youth Boxing Program in Detroit which is a place where kids can go and train for free and also receive necessary tutoring sessions to stress the importance of education. So not only were the kids learning eye-hand coordination, which, ironically, is just as essential to boxing as it is watch-making, but they were also getting a helping hand from the community. Three cheers to the champs.
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