Katharine Hamnett

Katharine Hamnett is a British fashion label associated with designer Katharine Hamnett. The label is widely known for slogan T-shirts that use short, highly visible messages to address political and social issues. Its identity combines fashion design with public-facing commentary, making the words printed on garments an important part of the brand’s profile as well as their visual design. The label’s best-known designs include “CHOOSE LIFE,” which became widely associated with 1980s pop culture, and “58% DON’T WANT PERSHING,” a protest message Hamnett wore during a meeting with then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. These examples illustrate the brand’s characteristic use of clothing as a medium for communicating a position rather than only as a seasonal fashion item. The brand is associated with ready-to-wear clothing and accessories, although the available official-site evidence here does not establish a complete current product range, geographic distribution, ownership structure, or headquarters. The official website provides a customer-care contact for orders and inquiries and links to the brand’s social media accounts. The label remains active online; further details about its current corporate structure and operations are not established by the supplied evidence.

Katharine Hamnett is a British fashion label associated with designer Katharine Hamnett, who established her own label in the late 1970s. The brand became particularly prominent through slogan clothing: simple garments carrying large, direct statements that could be read as political or social commentary. This approach helped make the message itself a defining part of the label’s identity. Among the label’s best-known slogans is “CHOOSE LIFE,” which became a recognizable design in 1980s popular culture. Another widely remembered garment carried the words “58% DON’T WANT PERSHING.” Hamnett wore it when meeting British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, bringing the shirt’s anti-nuclear message into public view. The episode is an often-cited illustration of how the designer used fashion to make a political statement and how the label’s clothing could circulate beyond conventional fashion settings. The brand is also associated with Hamnett’s wider public engagement with social and environmental issues. Its historical profile is therefore shaped both by clothing design and by the use of garments as a platform for messages. However, the limited official-site material supplied for this entry confirms only that the website is used for orders and inquiries and provides social media links. It does not establish the label’s present ownership, management, headquarters, full product catalogue, or market footprint. Those details are consequently left unspecified here rather than inferred.

• 1984

  Hamnett wears the “58% DON’T WANT PERSHING” shirt at a meeting with Margaret Thatcher

• 1983

  “CHOOSE LIFE” becomes a widely recognized slogan design

• 1980

  Slogan clothing becomes a defining part of the label’s public profile

• 1979

  Katharine Hamnett establishes her label

A British fashion label distinguished by politically and socially expressive slogan clothing; a high-end designer brand with political and social awareness.

• Slogan T-shirts

  T-shirts using prominent text to communicate political or social messages.

• Ready-to-wear clothing and accessories

  Fashion categories associated with the label; the supplied official-site material does not detail the current range.

1. 1Katharine Hamnett official websitekatharinehamnett.com