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Stratford Connecticut Vintage Retro Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee - Black Logo

Stratford Connecticut Vintage Retro Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee - Black Logo

Regular price $28.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $28.00 USD
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The Stratford tee, for the town that is the birthplace of the American helicopter. A classic unisex heavy cotton t-shirt with the Stratford vintage retro logo on the chest in black: the default Stratford shirt, and the one most people start with.

This is the everyday Stratford shirt: medium-weight cotton that holds up to real washing, a crewneck that fits everyone, and a logo that reads as a crest rather than a billboard. Buy it for yourself, buy a second for the person who keeps saying they want one, and it ships free in the U.S.

Unisex heavy cotton t-shirt made from medium-weight jersey for everyday comfort. Classic fit with a crewneck, tubular construction, and taped shoulders for durability; DTG-printed design. Solid colors are 100% cotton, while select heather/antique shades may use cotton–poly blends.

Stratford was founded by Puritans in 1639 at the mouth of the Housatonic and named on April 13, 1643, for Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon. It spent two centuries oystering and shipbuilding on the Sound, and the 1750 Captain David Judson House still stands from that era.

On September 14, 1939, Igor Sikorsky’s VS-300 made the first practical helicopter flight in the world over the Housatonic, and every presidential Marine One since 1957 has been built in town. Boothe Memorial Park keeps a clocktower, a windmill and an old Merritt Parkway tollbooth, and Stratford Point Light marks the river mouth. The mark on this piece is the town that taught America to hover.


QUICK FACTS — STRATFORD CT HEAVY COTTON TEE

Town: Stratford, Connecticut

Founded: 1639; named Stratford 1643

Known for: Birthplace of the American helicopter (1939); every Marine One since 1957; Stratford Point Light; Boothe Memorial Park

Art: Stratford vintage retro logo, black (printed)

Blank: Unisex heavy cotton tee, classic fit, crewneck, tubular construction, taped shoulders

Fabric: Solids 100% cotton; heather/antique shades cotton–poly

Print: DTG, black ink

Made to order in the USA


Made to order and shipped free in the U.S. More Stratford pieces, and the rest of Connecticut, are one button away.



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Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

The brothers who collected buildings. Ask Stratford for its strangest story and you'll be sent to Boothe Memorial Park: two brothers, David and Stephen Boothe, spent the early twentieth century filling their family homestead with structures nobody could quite explain — a clocktower museum, a chapel, a blacksmith shop, a windmill, a trolley station, and, in time, an original Merritt Parkway tollbooth. They willed all thirty-two acres to the people of Stratford, and the town has been happily puzzled by it ever since.

The Paugussett who lived along the Housatonic called this shore Cupheag — "place of shelter." In 1639 a group of Puritan families led by the Reverend Adam Blakeman settled at the river's mouth, and in 1643 the town was formally named Stratford, for Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon in England. For its first two centuries Stratford lived off the water: oystering and shipbuilding on the Housatonic, wharves and fishing boats, the 1750 Georgian house of Captain David Judson still standing as a reminder of the colonial harbor town.

Why People Visit Stratford Connecticut

Stratford draws visitors with a rare mix of colonial harbor history, Long Island Sound shoreline, and aviation heritage. Travelers find it both a 1639 oyster town with a lighthouse and beaches and the birthplace of the American helicopter, with the quiet, layered character of the Connecticut shore. It is historic, maritime, and unmistakably New England.

Stratford Connecticut Merlin Classics retro vintage logo featuring oyster shell over Connecticut Est. 1636