A recent wardrobe clear out got me thinking about the power of a T-shirt slogan, how if you start a brand, and can develop a t-shirt from its brand identity, or strapline. Then you could have the beginnings of a movement.

Katharine Hamnett’s “Choose Life” t-shirt from the eighties, is a great example of the power of a positive message. It still resonates today. Designed in 1983, it was taken from one of the main Buddhist principles. “Choose life” advocated, doing no harm – to live a good, meaningful life and change the world for the better. 

Since its first appearance “choose life” has echoed on for several decades. In the eighties, it was also used as an anti-suicide message, feted by Wham and later, in the nineties, was used in the adaption of Irvine Welsh’s brilliant book; “Transpotting”. Director Danny Boyle took the “Choose life” slogan and used it in the monologue at the beginning of the film, imploring the Ewan McGregor character, Renton, to give up his drug addled lifestyle, and “choose life” instead. 

“Choose Life” feels like it has even greater resonance today, with the mental health situation, the covid pandemic and the anti abortion lobbyists in the States. It feels like a slogan for this century.
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