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Folkestone Banksy Art Buff pit T-shirt makers The Quarter Masters and Alison Chambers, of Canterbury Festival, against each other

Despite the vandalism others in Folkestone have seen the funnier side of the town’s Banksy being defaced.

As we reported last week, The Quarter Masters in the Old High Street had leapt on the chance to mark the moment by producing a range of T-shirts and products.

This week, with the new edition to Banksy, another business opportunity has been snapped up and it’s proving a popular decision.

Alison Chambers decided to take the plunge and use the latest edition of Art Buff for a T-shirt design
Alison Chambers decided to take the plunge and use the latest edition of Art Buff for a T-shirt design

Alison Chambers asked for royalty free images of the graffiti-tagged artwork with the idea of turning that into a T-shirt.

Almost immediately after making a design on a free website and posting it to her friends on Facebook she was inundated with requests for orders.

Alison, 27, an organiser for the Canterbury Festival, recently moved away from Folkestone to Canterbury but still has friends in the town and says a little competition never hurt anyone.

She said: “I saw the original news articles about the entrepreneurial, opportunistic local businessman photographer who had come up with the T-shirt design with the Banksy piece on it.

Stephen Bail and Colin White of The Quarter Masters shop in the Old High Street and their Banksy products
Stephen Bail and Colin White of The Quarter Masters shop in the Old High Street and their Banksy products

“I thought perhaps the focus should be more on the talented, world renowned street artist, Banksy, than the local photographer who put his logo on a photo of the artwork.

“So when the phallus was added to the Banksy piece I couldn’t resist the urge to follow suit.

“I didn’t expect it to go viral like it did, and then people were genuinely trying to order the T-shirt from me so I decided to actually make a batch!"

The battle began after the edit was made with Banksy's Art Buff being defaced by vandals with a spray-painted penis over the protective perspex on Sunday night.

The Banksy artwork after vandals got to work the first time. Photo via @Kent_999s
The Banksy artwork after vandals got to work the first time. Photo via @Kent_999s

Police say they are carrying out an investigation into criminal damage. But the original, worth an estimated £300,000, is not damaged thanks to the perspex sheet.

The story again brought worldwide attention to Folkestone with a website in Mexico even carrying the news as well as several national newspapers.

Alison added: “I love the guys at Quarter Masters! They’ve seen it and said ‘Alison you have far too much time on your hands!’. Some things are just worth the effort for a few giggles really aren’t they?

“I think I’ll probably find somewhere to sell them from but for now I’ve got an inbox full of orders and I’m happy to take more! I’m not trying to make any money out of it - I’ll sell them at cost, we’re working all that out at the moment - or maybe I’ll raise a bit of money for a local charity.”

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