The T-shirt is white, with a simple message, “Freedom,” rendered in plain black letters across the chest. It’s also now widely available for sale, indicative of an internet culture that instantaneously commodifies any significant event.
The origins of the shirt, which the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, 31, was wearing on Wednesday when he was killed, are unknown. However, in the hours after the shooting, sellers on Etsy, TikTok and other print-on-demand sites flooded the marketplace with copies or similar designs, leading to criticism from prominent conservative voices, like the Libs of TikTok account, who see exploitation at work. An official version did not seem to appear on Mr. Kirk’s personal site until Friday.
The “Freedom” shirt quickly became a meme.
“It’s where cultural identity and cheap viral consumerism intersect,” D. Andrew Price, head of content at Memes Media Group, said of how Mr. Kirk’s T-shirt has proliferated in recent days.
Susana Tosca, a scholar of internet culture at the University of Southern Denmark, said, “Online culture thrives on templates that can be endlessly remixed and combined in different ways so ambiguity and openness are key to something actually being successful at spreading.”
The competition for profits means that when an event captures attention creators have to kick into high gear. After an assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last year, online retailers brimmed with shirts and mugs bearing the image of the bloodied, defiant presidential candidate.
Some of Mr. Kirk’s detractors on the political left have used the T-shirt to discredit his conservative worldview, saying it defined freedom far too narrowly. One shop was criticized for selling shirts that mocked Mr. Kirk’s killing; by Friday morning, those items appeared to have been removed.
Many of the “Freedom” shirts appear hastily designed. A site called Tees Local claimed to be selling Mr. Kirk’s “official” shirt, but that claim was undermined by a representative from the firm, who wrote in an email, “Only a few hours after his passing, our design team came together and decided to create a special collection to honor him.” The message included a time stamp in Vietnamese; many manufacturers of fast and instant fashion are based in Southeast Asia and China.
A representative for Tees Local said that the shirt “has been selling very well,” though the company did not provide specific details.
“If you want to support a company, support Erika Kirk’s clothing company,” the Orthodox Jewish gun-ownership influencer Yehuda Remer wrote in a social media post, referring to Mr. Kirk’s wife, who runs a Christian-themed clothing line. Mr. Remer said he would not sell the “Freedom” shirt in his merchandise shop.
Jessica Peters, the Indiana-based co-owner of Life’s a Stitch, a store that sells clothing, wrestled with the same challenge. Ultimately, so many customers wanted “Freedom” shirts that she heeded their requests — she is charging $12 for a T-shirt and $25 for a hooded sweatshirt. Ms. Peters intends to donate any profits the Freedom-themed gear makes.
“We have decided to not charge a normal price in hopes that people will order more of these to also not be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, just like Charlie did,” her site says. Life’s a Stitch slightly amended the design, adding a Bible verse to the front and an American flag to the sleeve.
Natalie Danelishen, an administrative assistant who lives in Ohio, was relieved when Mr. Kirk’s site finally began selling the “Freedom” shirt on Friday. The proliferation of sellers looking to cash in on a tragedy was “gross and distasteful,” Ms. Danelishen said.
“I wanted to wait until I could directly contribute to Charlie’s family and organization,” she added.
As supporters less patient than Ms. Danelishen initially rushed to pay tribute to Mr. Kirk, some erroneously thought the T-shirt had been produced by the merchandising arm of Turning Point USA, the campus activist group Mr. Kirk co-founded, but that does not appear to be the case. After the killing, Turning Point started selling a T-shirt that shows a line drawing of Mr. Kirk dressed in a suit and one fist raised in the air.
The shirt’s legend is a biblical quote attributed to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: “Here I am Lord, send me.” (Turning Point has its own online store, separate from Mr. Kirk’s personal site, and does not sell the “Freedom” shirt.)
An apparent imitation of the Turning Point T-shirt quickly appeared on iFrogTees, a print-on-demand shop, where it was billed “a profound tribute to a life dedicated to faith, freedom, and the American spirit.” Customers landing there would most likely have no idea that they were purchasing a facsimile.
Kathryn Winn, who writes the newsletter “Memeforum,” thinks the “Freedom” shirt is bound to become part of the cultural landscape. “This is the shirt that will be hanging in stalls in beach towns, on the National Mall, and other vacation destinations.”
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