Tom Kartsotis (born 1959) is an American entrepreneur, best known as the founder of the brand development firm Bedrock Manufacturing Co., [1] which is named for The Flintstones hometown and was founded in 2003. [2] Kartsotis was also known as the founder and the president of Fossil since 1984 until 2010.
Kartsotis is the founder of Fossil Inc. in 1984 and served in roles including Director, President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman from 1984 to January 2010. [3] Kartsotis re-founded defunct shoe polish brand Shinola as Shinola Detroit and re-positioned it as a wristwatch brand. [4]
In June 2016, the US Federal Trade Commission ordered Shinola to stop using 'Where American is made' as a slogan because "100% of the cost of materials used to make certain watches is attributable to imported materials." [5] Kartsotis responded with an open letter which noted that the regulations defining "Made in America" for cars are not the same as for watches. [6]
Kartsotis has also invested in American designer Steven Alan and outdoor goods brand Filson. [7] Kartsotis has served on the Board of Directors of Burton Snowboards since 2004. [8]
Kartsotis is of Greek parentage. [9] He shuns media attention and is rarely photographed. [10] His brother, Kosta also served as CEO & chairman of Fossil, replaced Tom's position since 2010.
Fossil Group, Inc., is an American fashion designer and manufacturer founded in 1984 by Tom Kartsotis and based in Richardson, Texas. Their brands include Fossil, Relic, Michele Watch, Skagen Denmark, Misfit, WSI, and Zodiac Watches. Fossil also makes licensed accessories for brands such as BMW, Puma, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, DKNY, Diesel, Kate Spade New York, Tory Burch, Chaps, and Armani Exchange.
Seiko Group Corporation, commonly known as Seiko, is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced one of the first quartz watches and the first quartz watch with a chronograph complication. Seiko was a wristwatch manufacturer for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Patek Philippe SA is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer, located in the Canton of Geneva and the Vallée de Joux. Established in 1839, it is named after two of its founders, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe. Since 1932, the company has been owned by the Stern family in Switzerland and remains the last family-owned independent watch manufacturer in Geneva. Patek Philippe is one of the oldest watch manufacturers in the world with an uninterrupted watchmaking history since its founding. It designs and manufactures timepieces as well as movements, including some of the most complicated mechanical watches. The company maintains over 400 retail locations globally and over a dozen distribution centers across Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. In 2001, it opened the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
Vacheron Constantin SA is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded in 1755. Since 1996, it has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group. Vacheron Constantin is the second oldest Swiss manufacturer and one of the oldest watch manufacturers in the world with an uninterrupted watchmaking history since its foundation in 1755. It employs around 1,200 people worldwide as of 2018, most of whom are based in the company's manufacturing plants in the Canton of Geneva and Vallée de Joux in Switzerland.
Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which inexpensive, battery-powered, quartz-regulated watches were competing against more established European watchmakers, focused on artisanal craftsmanship producing mostly mechanical watches.
A Made in USA mark is a country of origin label affixed to homegrown, American-made products that indicates the product is "all or virtually all" domestically produced, manufactured and assembled in the United States of America. The label is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Ulysse NardinSA is a Swiss luxury watchmaking company founded in 1846 in Le Locle, Switzerland.
Shinola is an American lifestyle brand based in Detroit, Michigan. It produces and sells watches, bicycles, leather goods, clocks, home goods, and jewelry. Founded in 2011, Shinola takes its name from a common saying that harkens back to the defunct Shinola shoe polish company. The company was founded by Tom Kartsotis and is owned and operated by Texas-based investment group Bedrock Group LP.
Audemars Piguet Holding SA is a Swiss manufacturer of luxury watches and clocks, headquartered in Le Brassus, Switzerland. The company was founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875, acquiring the name Audemars Piguet & Cie in 1881. The company has been family-owned since its founding.
Tailored Brands, Inc. is an American retail holding company for various men's apparel stores, including the Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank brands. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with additional corporate offices in Fremont, California.
Blancpain SA is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switzerland in 1735, Blancpain is the oldest surviving watchmaking brand. Blancpain has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group since 1992, and is regarded as a top-tier Swatch brand.
Skagen Denmark is a brand, initially of watches, of Skagen Designs Ltd., that has grown into being a wider American contemporary accessories brand based on Danish design. As of spring 2015, its product lines include watches, handbags, jewelry, and other durable personal goods, the majority of which aimed at the mid-range. Named for Skagen, a Jutland peninsula and Denmark's northernmost town, Skagen Designs Ltd. was purchased in 2012 by Fossil, for stock and cash in transaction totaling approximately US$237 million, and it continues to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under its parent, continuing the traditional brand name Skagen Denmark. Starting in New York, then in Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada, Skagen Designs Ltd. operations are overseen from Richardson, Texas, near Dallas, in the United States.
Barclay was an American brand of cigarettes manufactured by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the U.S. and by British American Tobacco outside of the U.S.
Zodiac Watches, or simply Zodiac, is an American brand of Swiss-made watches founded in 1882 by Ariste Calame in Le Locle, Switzerland. The company mostly focuses on its dive watches through its Sea Wolf line, one of the first modern dive watches, which debuted in 1953 along with the Rolex Submariner and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Although Zodiac was acquired by Fossil Group in 2001, its manufacturing remained in Bienne, Switzerland. Zodiac and Fossil Group are headquartered in Richardson, Texas.
Steven Alan is an American fashion designer from New York City. His eponymous brand has stores in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco and is sold online.
C.C. Filson is an American privately owned outfitter and manufacturer of goods for outdoor enthusiasts. The company, based in Seattle, Washington, designs, manufactures, distributes and sells men's and women's outdoor clothing, accessories and luggage. Filson sells its products via company-owned retail stores, catalogs and the Filson website as well as through authorized dealers in the United States and international distributors. The company was originally established in Seattle in 1897 as C.C. Filson's Pioneer Alaska Clothing and Blanket Manufacturers to meet the needs of prospectors passing through Seattle on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush; as of 2012 the brand is owned by Bedrock Manufacturing founder Tom Kartsotis, who also owns Shinola Detroit.
Bremont Watch Company is a luxury aviation-themed British watchmaker based in England. Annual production is approximately 10,000 pieces for an approximate annual revenue of £40 million.
Shinola is a defunct American brand of shoe polish. The Shinola Company, founded in Rochester, New York in 1877 as the American Chemical Manufacturing and Mining Company, produced the polish under a sequence of different owners until 1960. "Shinola" was a patented name and trademark for boot polish. The suffix -ola is a popular component of trade names in the United States. It was popular during the first half of the 20th century and entered the American lexicon in the phrase, "You don't know shit from Shinola," meaning to be ignorant. The brand name was acquired by the retail company Shinola in 2011.
Hodinkee, stylized as HODINKEE, is a New York City-based watch website, known as an influential editorial and e-commerce site for new and vintage wristwatches. Founded in 2008, the name comes from the Czech and Slovak word for wristwatch, “hodinky”.
H. Moser & Cie. is a trademark of Moser Schaffhausen AG, a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer. The original H. Moser & Cie. was founded by independent watchmaker Heinrich Moser in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1828. Notable early clients of H. Moser & Cie. included Russian princes and members of the Russian Imperial Court; Vladimir Lenin also owned a Moser watch. After Moser died in 1874, the company was sold, and its business in Russia was expropriated in 1918 due to the October Revolution.