original penguin

Launched in 1955 by Munsingwear salesman Abbot Pederson, Original Penguin began with the creation of the iconic '55' golf shirt. The brand's origin story is famously rooted in a flight where Pederson, accompanied by a taxidermied penguin mascot named Pete, was inspired to embroider the dapper bird onto a shirt. This polo, with its signature underarm action gusset, quickly became a staple of 1950s and '60s leisure, adopted by cultural figures like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Arnold Palmer, cementing its place as an American classic. After a quieter period, the brand was revitalized in the early 2000s under Perry Ellis International, re-emerging by blending its archive of mid-century designs with a contemporary feel.

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