SLOGAN TEES

In 1981, Katharine Hamnett unveiled the first slogan tee which became an eminent trend and talking point of the decade as well as central DNA to her brand. The angered energy of society was paraphrased onto plain t-shirts in large block font, enunciated by Hamnett to be “the same typeface as The Sun newspaper, so it would be unmissable 200 yards away” (Hamnett, 2018).

One of her most audacious career moments was performed in a slogan tee which quoted “58% DON’T WANT PERSHING”, (figure 2) a contest of the decision to allow the stationing of US Pershing missiles in Britain. This was worn to a reception with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher- I believe an extremely powerful act which secured her the necessary headlines and publicity she desired for- emphasising to me the strong capacity of radical marketing.

However, I believe I could take inspiration from Katharine Hamnett in reference to her out of box thinking and extravagant nature towards societal circumstances and implement it within my FMP outcomes to orchestrate a campaign which does shock and present a controversial stance within the industry currently.

“T-shirts are some of the strongest messaging tools for consciousness raising” (Hamnett, n.d) I agree with this statement to some extent. At the time of the Thatcher-Hamnett affair, protesting within tees were new on the scene, thus receiving the noticeability it did. Today, such strategies would fail to present the same shock factor.