On the top of the list of our current best sellers are tees and hoodies bearing the slogan “Keep calm…“ design. ”Keep calm and stay legendary“, “Keep calm and be a unicorn“, “Keep calm and be a princess” – there’s a boundless number of Keep Calm designs available in our Marketplace.
We’ve all seen it before somewhere, and we all have a notion of where the “Keep calm and…” comes from.
So here’s the full story: In 1939, the British government showed great concern as to the political development in continental Europe, particularly seeing that Hitler was about to wage war on all of Nazi Germany’s neighbours. In Britain, one was anything but safe from the looming onslaught of a Teutonic assault, and hence the time had come to contemplate a possible reaction.
This is why the Ministry of Information put a series of posters to print, designed at bolstering the morale of the population as a whole.
The first installation poster read FREEDOM IS IN PERIL. DEFEND IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT. The second one read YOUR COURAGE, YOUR CHEERFULNESS, YOUR RESOLUTION WILL BRING US VICTORY. And finally, the third one propagated the now famous motto KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.
In September 1939, the first two posters were distributed to every corner of the country and on display in shop windows, schools and public institutions, only the third one – the Keep Calm poster – was not a favourite with the people. Since it was designed to be a call for perseverance in case of an invasion, it fortunately never really found ubiquitous deployment. And this is the reason why it soon withered on the vine.
It was only in the year 2000, when the poster was found in a second-hand bookshop, and it subsequently staked its claim to fame and popularity. Thousands of variations have been created and posted on the Internet, and turned into quite an online phenomenon. Now these slogans can also be seen on T-shirts, hoodies and tote bags. There are hundreds of variations available in the UK Marketplace, but also in the German, French, Dutch and Scandinavian Marketplace these designs rank among the top selling designs.
Why is this, you may ask. Is it due to the timeless design of the slogan? Or because of the ever-prevailing retro trend? It seems that the slogan strikes a quiet note of humour, peace and a distinctively British mannerism, that people seem to like everywhere. What does it mean to you?
It would be great to receive your feedback: Keep calm and comment!
KEEP CALM AND TAKE MY MONEY! DOpe T-shirts