THE MARCEL TANK TOP VOTED A FRENCH CULT OBJECT BY ÉDITIONS OUEST FRANCE

Worn under a shirt or proudly displayed to highlight the biceps and pectorals, the Marcel suits everyone: the chilly and the cozy who appreciate the comfort and warmth of this light tank top, and athletes and to all the strong, but also to gardeners, bakers, dancers, construction workers, joggers and those who like to feel free to move. It was also the handlers of the Halles de Paris, the famous “forts des halles” who launched, in the 1860s, the fashion for the sleeveless wool sweater because the tank top made it easier to carry heavy loads on their shoulders. The fashion spread quickly, and a hosier from Roanne, Marcel Eisenberg, launched into the industrial production of sleeveless skin knitting: his first name, which he used as a commercial brand, thus became the name of the flagship product on which the entrepreneur had bet everything.

The white tank top which protects the torso well from the cold and wind is part of the Poilus' kit in the trenches. Its lightness also suited summer visitors, who were ever more numerous thanks to the introduction of paid leave in the 1930s. The Marcel would thus experience its golden age from the 1930s to the 1970s, where even movie stars 'exhibit, from Raimu in The Baker's Wife to Belmondo in The Professional and Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire . Roanne, a quiet town on the banks of the Loire, was transformed for several decades into the capital of Marcel, an underwear that had conquered all continents and seemed unbreakable. This was without counting the strange 1990s during which the Marcel was wrongly considered “prole” and out of fashion.

The beautiful story could have ended abruptly in 1990, with the closure
of the last factory, but the Marcel had the destiny of Sleeping Beauty:
all it takes is a Roanne entrepreneur , Thomas Sardi, takes up the torch so that it revives from its ashes, with variations in twelve shades and
limited collector's series.