item details
A1 Embroidery & Screenprint Ltd.; embroiderer; 2018; Petone
Gildan Activewear; manufacturer(s)
Overview
This 'period. tee' was designed by NopeSisters 'to make a bold statement breaking down period taboos, and help prevent 'period poverty'. We believe everyone has the right to more affordable and sustainable menstrual products' (https://www.nopesisters.com/products/period-tee). The full stop (also known as a period) provides a double emphasis to the word and the desire to end period taboos and poverty.
NopeSisters share their profits with not-for-profit organisations. In this case, sales of the period tee help raise money for Wā Collective which provides affordable and environmentally-sustainable menstrual cups to university students. This particular t-shirt was worn by Olie Body, Executive Menstruator and Founder of Wā Collective. Her aims are to correct misperceptions of menstruation and ease period poverty in New Zealand. She says: 'My period t-shirt is permission. It's giving permission to talk about periods; a permission many people feel they don't have. If we don't have permission to talk about menstruation openly, frankly and like the natural, healthy process it is, then we are denying us all. That's because if we can't talk about something, then we can't begin to address any surrounding issues such as period poverty, period waste and uterine health. Menstruation itself is not an issue, but the way we deal with menstruation is. It's experienced by directly by half the population, all the while affecting us all and our environment. We all know someone who bleeds!
In 2017 I founded the social enterprise Wā Collective. We are sustainably tacking period poverty and period waste and the period taboo, period. In order to do that, we need permission to talk about periods, we need to oust that taboo. I launched this business in this shirt - with 'period' proudly across my chest. I have stood in front of thousands of people, both men and women in this tshirt, speaking openly about periods, catalying tens of thousands of conversations nationwide about menstruation, our bodies and equity. This tshirt holds the progressive mana of those conversations had.
As of March 2019, through Wā Collective, we have prevented one million disposable menstrual products from entering landfill and saved menstruators $350,000 that they would otherwise be spending on disposables. This shirt gives me permission; it gives us all permission. It's an honour to have it now as part of the national collection' (Olie Body, 2019).
NopeSisters
NopeSisters are Johanna and Brittany Cosgrove. They make clothing with a message and share their profits with charity organisations that align with issues they feel strongly about. Their ‘mission is to design fashion for a cause, making a positive difference to real people, one tee at a time’ (https://nopesistersclothing.com/). NopeSisters clothing addresses ongoing feminist issues and contemporary zeitgeist movements, including sexual abuse and gender-based violence; mental health initiatives and suicide prevention; and breast cancer awareness.
Their t-shirts act as walking billboards and conversation-starters. T-shirts have long been used for this purpose, and are a useful tool for protest and social movements - they are affordable, popular, and easy to print and embellish. In the case of NopeSisters' t-shirts, they are machine-embroidered with a specially prepared stitch by A1 Embroidery in Petone, Lower Hutt. Stitching is more intensive than printing, and evokes NopeSisters' conscious design approach.