Marshall Lester

Brand #27: Marshall Lester

Circulation: Common

Era: Late 1950s-?

Information: With Britain suffering from U.S.A.mania the t-shirt explosion was felt across the pond. Scott Lester made a healthy living manufacturing flags and patches for retailers while fathering his boy Marshall. In his early twenties Marshall started doodling all things American: cities, cars, you name it. Then he had them printed on tees and sent them out for sale just to see what would happen. Well, some serious sh*t happened. As the story goes a few days later the first of the Brighton Mods-and-Rockers riots went down. Marshall Lester watched it on television and noticed the Mods were wearing his t-shirts.

Despite the blood stained hooligans who popularized the shirts each one contained delicate washing instructions “by hand using mild soap flakes in luke warm water. Squeeze gently – do not rub.”

It quickly became the t-shirt for those in the know. Marshall designed, his father’s operation manufactured and the blanks became a destination for discerning European screen printers. Many of the rarest vintage rock tees bear the Marshall label. The slogan on some of the labels made their success clear: “The World’s Leading T-Shirt Printers.” Exactly how long the brand lasted is unclear.

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• View the previous Crazy Shirts brand.