What I Got - Retro Campaigns

Ever wish for the good old days where (most) politicians do not lie through their smiles? Those were simpler times when a handshake is a handshake and not the discreet palming of payola.

Retro Campaigns hook is political campaigns of yore. Sounds interesting but how does it look, you ask?


The package.


I immediately fell head over heels when I first set eyes on it. I got a George McGovern tee. Obviously, the t-shirt is supposed to look vintage and it does but it also felt vintage, especially with the printing.

Okay, you know sometimes, you get t-shirts with designs that popped. Literally. Because the printer applied too much ink to the tee. For Retro Campaigns, the printing is consummate. Just the right amount is used so when you run your fingers over the t-shirt, you won't know where the ink start or end.


It's a printing miracle!

The designs are not based on any based on actual campaigns. I'll let Christine Lusey from Retro Campaigns explain.

"For instance, Eugene McCarthy's unofficial 1968 campaign slogan during the New Hampshire Primary was 'Get clean for Gene,' but there was never a button (at last none I found) with that slogan or image based on that, so my designer and I made one up. Some others are based on actual buttons. McGovern and his supporters used buttons with rainbows, doves, the peace sign, etc., for example, so we made shirts incorporating those images. I like to think of it as 're-imagining past campaigns.'"

And besides the swell t-shirt, there were information about George McGovern attached to it.

It's a nice idea - to understand what we are wearing. I didn't know who McGovern was. I just like the design but after reading about him, I have a better appreciation of the guy and his ideals.

I like, nay, love Retro Campaigns. If the upcoming election were to go straight to hell in a hand basket, at least I still have my t-shirt that will remind me of what once was.

And hopefully, what will be in the future.


edit: thanks to my shoddy journalism, apparently designs were based on actual campaigns. Also, designs were based on existing buttons while other campaigns without art sources were invented based on imagery and slogans used by said campaigns.