Can anybody help please???

[Madwrass]

Hi everybody, I’m new here
I was wondering if anybody knows anything about this company/shirt. They are called
L.S. & J. SUSSMAN.
All I can find is one website saying they were a shirt manufacture in Hasting and they supplied M and S in the 50s and 60s but I this shirt is made in Turkey.
So I’m at a loss

Thank you
.

 

[retro ruth]

This is presumably the site you found.

I also found this, which doesn't tell you much but has some marvellous photos of their workforce, see below, which look to be late 50s/early 60s. It says they moved location in 1968, but still in Hastings in the UK.

Presumably they moved manufacturing out of the UK at some point - so your shirt is likely later than the 50s/60s period. The care label suggests it is relatively recent - probably not earlier than the 1990s.

 

[Madwrass]

Awesome, thank you very much Ruth. It’s very strange that there is so little online about them.
I can’t even find anywhere where the shirts are for sale. Thank you for looking into it though

 

[retro ruth]

They appear to be a relatively small family firm who may have stopped trading before the internet. If they were mainly manufacturing for other companies like M&S, they might not have had a much of a public brand. It’s not so surprising there’s not much out there about them.

 

[lkranieri]

In a small 1968 article I found: "A notable local success story is that of Sussman's shirt factory at Billericay. L.S. & J. Sussman Ltd., established as shirtmakers since the 1890s, have factories at Leyton, Hatfield and Hastings in addition to the Billericay factory started six years ago. They manufacture primarily "St. Michael" shirts for Marks & Spencer...The Billericay factory...employs 280, mostly women and girls...The key to the success of the Billericay factory is probably the company's...policy of providing the best possible conditions for work, and paying high wages...The Sussman organisation is showing very vigorous development."

A 1978 ad for Sussman of Hastings noted: "We are the leading suppliers of men's shirts for Marks and Spencer and employ some 900 people."

 

[retro ruth]

Great information! Thanks. The workers certainly look happy!

 

[Madwrass]

Amazing work, thank you all so much

 

[MartynM]

Hi!

I used to work for L S & J Sussman Ltd back in 1997/1998. They had a factory in St Austell, Cornwall. We made shirts for M&S and it employed quite a number of the local population.

Sadly, yes, they closed the factory down and moved to Turkey in 1998. Apparently the wages were so much cheaper over there.

We worked from 7.30am to 4.45pm Monday to Thursday and finished at about 12.30 on a Friday - if I remember correctly. We were paid weekly and many of us would head down to the local pub, straight after work, to enjoy the fruits of our labour!