Merz b. Schwanen and 'The Bear': The White T-shirt That Launched a Thousand Shipments

London - A good white T-shirt is often the making of any male star on the big and small screen.

There’s James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause,” Brad Pitt in “Fight Club,” Marlon Brando in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Sean Penn in “At Close Range,” and now the latest addition to that list is Jeremy Allen White, whose T-shirt in the series “The Bear” has morphed into its own pop-culture entity. 

His T-shirt is the white 215 style from German brand Merz b. Schwanen that weighs 8.6 ounces, retails at 79.90 euros and is made on a special loopwheeled machine from the 20th century. 

The brand dates all the way back to 1911, but for most of its time it was under dust until husband-and-wife duo Gitta and Peter Plotnicki discovered a Merz b. Schwanen Henley shirt at a flea market in 2010.

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​      Hikmat Mohammed • WWD