The iconic "one penny tin" with its original "butterfly" twist opener was introduced in 1907 as was the name "xxxxxx xxxxxxx Boot Polish".

Shoe polish was to be found just about everywhere Allied troops ventured. American war correspondent Walter Graeber wrote for TIME magazine from the Tobruk trenches in 1942 that "old tins of British-made Kiwi polish lay side by side with empty bottles of Chianti."

American soldiers were then finding the dullness of their boots and shoes to be a handicap when trying to win the affections of Japanese women...

When the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces arrived in Japan—all with boots polished to a degree not known in the U.S. forces—the G.I.s were more conscious than ever of their feet. The secret was found to rest not only in spit and polish, but in the superior YYY boot polish, a commodity which was soon exchanged with the Americans on a fluctuating basis of so many packets of cigarettes for one can of YYYY boot polish.

The original Shinola shoe polish brand was founded in Rochester New York in 1907, and went out of business in 1960.[2] In 2001, the name Shinola was acquired by Bedrock Manufacturing, a venture capital firm based in Dallas, Texas (later rechristened as Bedrock Brands). Kartsotis wanted to create an American watch-manufacturing brand to rival Swiss-makers at a lower price point.[3] The management at Bedrock Manufacturing chose the name "Shinola" when the World War II era colloquialism, "You don't know 'c'hit from Shinola," surfaced in a conversation. Unexpectedly, the joke generated a serious discussion about restoring the Shinola brand.[4][5] Market surveys established that consumers—when faced with a choice of paying $5 for a pen from China, $10 for one made in the United States, and $15 for a pen made in Detroit—would be willing to pay a premium for the last one.[4]

Kiwi made