Long before logos were ironic and branding became fashion, Manny, Moe & Jack were already there — three grinning mascots turned accidental pop icons. Originally created for the Pep Boys auto chain, the trio’s clean lines and cartoon simplicity made them perfect raw material for the downtown art and punk scenes of the late ’70s and ’80s.
Artists and musicians recognized what advertisers rarely do: strong imagery escapes its original purpose. Keith Haring wore the shirt, folding it into his visual world of symbols, repetition, and street-level graphics. Dee Dee Ramone wore it too — proof that punk style thrived on the collision of the everyday and the subversive. In both cases, the shirt stopped being about cars and became about attitude.
