Chicago Camera Brands T-Shirt

Show off some Windy City pride with this Chicago camera brands T-shirt! This design lists twenty-six of Chicago’s most well-known (and some not as well-known) camera brands: Acro, Adams & Westlake, Bell & Howell, Bernard, Burke & James, Calumet, Camera Corporation of America, Deardorff, Elgin, Falcon, Galter, General, Herbert George, Herold, Imperial, Metropolitan, Monarch, Pho-Tak, Revere, Rolls, Seymour, Spartus, Tower (Sears), United States Camera, Utility, and Zenith.

Many of these listed here are part of what is commonly known as the Chicago Cluster: a large group of brands that sold a huge amount of nearly identical and usually plastic cameras in the 1930-1940s but other companies like Bell & Howell and Deardorff are as diverse and unique as they come. While no Chicago-based brand had the lasting impact of other American firms such as Kodak or Polaroid, they are still a vital part of camera history and should never be forgotten.