Louis Winter; Lancer Shirt Designer, Manufacturer

Louis Winter, 84, a shirt designer who founded Lancer of California. Born in Montreal, Winter grew up in Brooklyn and began his working life at the Crescent Foods Co., where he met his wife, Annette. The couple drove her Model A Ford across country, taking a train for the last leg of the journey to Los Angeles after the car broke down in Little Rock. Winter found work as a fabric cutter in the garment industry, but he longed to become a designer. In 1946, he founded the shirt maker Lancer of California, where he designed and manufactured men’s shirts for Sears, Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney. Winter’s design trademark became his snap tab collar, which he developed in the 1950s. The company was in business until 1991. On Wednesday in Los Angeles.