As a signifier and a form of communication fashion has naturally become a device for political and social activism, bold and succinct snippets of text linking and individual to a collective issue became popular in the vocal and excessive climate of the 1980s, at a time when social issues such as AIDS and environmental concerns were building over as a reaction to the notorious cultural excess of the decade.

Since their commercial popularity in the 1980s the genre of the slogan T-shirt has risen to mass-market status. More recently, last year, Topman caused controversy when T-shirts were pulled from the shop floor, with statements printed onto them being deemed as sexist (which, we can’t help but add, they clearly were).