They’ll Vote for a Hefty Discount

For most Americans, this year’s selling of the President is mercifully concluded. But for one local business, the selling of the leftovers has just begun.

Bill Kessler Enterprises, a Culver City women’s wear jobber, finds itself saddled with 3,600 white cotton T-shirts bearing slogans urging people to vote. The shirts arrived Oct. 30, the Friday before the Election Day that made them obsolete.

Kessler Enterprises buys surplus fashion items for resale to off-price clothiers. Kessler’s deal with its main supplier is that it takes what is sent.

“They happen to be really nice quality T-shirts,” says Danny Kessler, the younger half of the father-son team that makes up the business. “We’d happily sell them for $3 apiece.”

The Kesslers have no intention of holding onto inventory until 1996, and off-year elections don’t generate nearly the interest of a presidential campaign.

If the T-shirts have a silver lining, it involves shrinking the nation’s chronic trade deficit. Kessler believes that the best market for the shirts may be overseas, where English lettering is often considered trendy.