The armed forces and patriotism are some of the most passionate niches out there, and they’ve always been especially popular on Teespring! Now is your chance to prepare for several patriot-themed events and create designs your buyers will be proud to wear.
May 29th (USA) – Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the U.S. for remembering and honoring men and women who have died while serving in the armed forces. Don’t confuse this day with Veterans Day, which celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.
June 24th (UK) – Armed Forces Day (formerly known as Veterans Day) in the United Kingdom is an annual event celebrating the service of men and women in the British Armed Forces.
July 4th (USA) – Independence Day, also referred to as Fourth of July or July 4th, is a federal holiday in the U.S. commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. On July 4th, 1776 the Continental Congress declared that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and were no longer part of the British Empire.
Tip: If you’ve got a great patriotic themed design you want to be featured in our buyer marketing campaigns make sure to add the hashtag #Patriot2017 to your campaign description.
Design inspiration & tips
Before getting started it’s important to be conscious of copyright and trademark laws surrounding the armed forces as you create new designs; for example, no design can feature official military branch logos, do not include the words (or variations of) “marine” or “coast guard”. Also, avoid using “US” before any branch of the military in your design – for example, you cannot have a design featuring the text US Army Veteran…but you can have a design featuring “Army Veteran”. The best military-themed designs focus on the word “veteran” and incorporate messages about brotherhood, sacrifice, honor, etc.
Check out the slideshow before for popular design examples and continue reading for more inspiration below.
Research, research, research!
Dig into the history of the country you want to target with your design. In the UK for example, “Keep Calm and Carry On” was an iconic phrase associated with WWII. “Stiff upper lip” and “Keep your pecker up” are also popular phrases associated with war and armed forces in this region. Look for opportunities to incorporate widely recognized slogans people can identify with and try to make them work for your niche.
Adapt current niches
There are tons of ways you can add a patriotic flair to your most popular designs. Methods like incorporating flag colors, adding additional design elements or adapting design messages are good ways to get started. Family, hobby and job related designs are especially easy for incorporating new design message layers. Learn how one Teespring seller, Brian LaRoche, incorporates new themes into his existing niches in this post.
Support a charity
Patriotic designs usually have an emotional attachment to them (loss, hardship, grief) so we ask sellers to be as respectful as possible when targeting these audiences. We also highly recommend donating a portion of your profits to a related cause. Verified donation campaigns see a 45% higher conversion rate compared to non-verified fundraising campaigns—reassure buyers their purchase is supporting a good cause by adding the badge to your campaign.
If you’re not sure which organizations to select you can check out the list below. These are available in our charity database right now:
UK Charities
US Charities
- Support Our Troops
- Wounded Warrior Project
- Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust
- Operation Homefront
You missed Armed Forces Day in the United States (3rd Saturday in May).
Hey Lawrence, between Mother’s Day & Father’s Day promotions we were cutting it a bit close to the cutoff dates for Armed Forces Day. It’s a good callout though – we’ll plan accordingly for next year. Cheers!
I’m surprised no one has come up for daughters/sons of 2 veterans. My sis & Iare both vets & so are our husbands. I ended up buying a shirt on base & putting a big red 2 over the “a”.
Any who we love your shirts have 10+
Thank you