Armed to the tees with constitutional couture

On India's 75th Republic Day, we speak to A47, a company that makes ISRO, Indian Armed Forces, and Indian Constitution-themed merch.

How have you been showing off your love for India lately? Did you hop on to social media and post about it? Or maybe you bought yourself the official ICC Cricket World Cup jersey made by Adidas? 

There are too few avenues to display national pride with the same cool quotient as proclaiming allegiance with the Wakandans. Not just that, India also does not have a culture of displaying national pride in the way that countries like the US do.

A47 is here to change all that. Now one can acquire an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) or The Indian Constitution-themed t-shirt as easily as one could buy a DC Comics sweatshirt. 

Born out of the disappointment of seeing people dress up in National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) t-shirts, Bhavik Vora, CEO and founder, Black White Orange Brands & A47, a brand licensing company, set out to make ISRO t-shirts just about the time when the pandemic struck. 

Vora explains that A47 was built to make brand India “cool and aspirational” while keeping it affordable. He cites the example of IPL, which despite being the money spinner that it is, is not as aspirational as football leagues and their clubs like Arsenal or Manchester United. 

“Why not celebrate India?” was the question the team set out to answer with merchandise.

The Origin Story

A47 saw an opportunity for licensing Indian brands when they saw the pull of brand Baahubali in 2017 when the second instalment of the film came out. “That was the first glimmer of hope that Indian brands and merchandise could be very successful,” says Adip Mehta, creative director, Black White Orange Brands & A47. 

The licensing business slowed down during the pandemic giving the A47 team the right window to work on a passion project. It took about two years, but they finally convinced the nation’s foremost space nerds to take a chance with developing merchandise à la NASA. 

A47 debuted on August 15, 2021, with a line of ISRO-themed t-shirts, mission patches and sweatshirts. The success with the ISRO merch — the space agency is the most popular line on its website — has resulted in the Indian Armed Forces also taking an interest in developing merchandise. Want a t-shirt with an image of the Tejas light combat aircraft or a t-shirt to remember the 1999 Kargil War? A47 has you covered. 

While t-shirts are the most popular products on the e-commerce site, true to the nature of space tech and the armed forces, mission patches and posters carrying detailed artwork of fighter jets and rockets are also highly sought after.

Branding serious tech 

Promoting and popularising ISRO posed unique challenges. First, NASA has set the tone for space merch. Being the most recognised space organisation globally, it has defined what makes space merch look like space merch. 

“NASA has been amazing with their merchandising and marketing programme so it would be foolish to not be inspired by them,” confesses Mehta. 

One of the first things Mehta did was to reimagine the minimal ISRO logo which depicts a sharp arrow soaring through with satellites orbiting it and ISRO written in English and Devanagari script. People associate NASA with two popular logos — the blue ‘meatball’ (currently in use) and the minimal ‘worm’. 

So Mehta gave the ISRO logo a meatball treatment and framed the logo in a circle. After conducting some A/B testing, he found that products bearing the circular logo were selling ten times more than the usual ISRO logo. A47 does not reference NASA anymore. 

Second, making satellites cool. “Rockets work well but satellites are not very attractive. To make satellites appealing we add extra cool graphics, pops of neon colours, etc.,” he says.

Finally, the team at A47 goes the extra mile to ensure the artwork is factually correct. The company steers clear of making space jokes and any kind of design or art that harms the integrity of the organisation. 

Mehta is also careful to be scientifically accurate with all the designs. For instance, the A47 crew recently sought some clarifications regarding the newly launched XPoSat from ISRO after exhausting all publicly available resources on the satellite. 

Black White Orange, the parent company of A47, also snagged the merchandising rights for the Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone movie Fighter, recently.

What is noteworthy is that the entire line of merchandise for the movie bears no explicit resemblance to the movie or the stars in it. The clothing instead celebrates fighter jets and the Indian Airforce. This was a conscious decision, says Mehta. The idea is to promote the thrill of aviation, pay tribute to the airforce and not just the movie. 

A47 has become, for the first-time-ever, the offical partner for a space flight programme. A badge created by A47 has found its place in the Gaganyaan mission.

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The Indian Constitution on a t-shirt

A47 is making patriotism cool at a time when the country is divided over what it even means to be patriotic. Other than the space merch and armed forces merch, A47 has a line of apparel themed after the Constitution of India.

Is it possible that the company perceives its position within the zeitgeist to be one that is subversive?

No, says Vora, adding "the point of the Constitution line is to make this revered document accessible to a generation of Indians who perhaps are unaware of their rights and privileges while making the Constitution a part of pop culture." The company steers clear of political or religious messages.   

“Indians used to perceive everything foreign as better. Over time we have seen a shift take place — while there is a flip side to it — we live in a time where Indians have never been prouder to be Indian,” he says. 

The Constitution has been an enduring symbol of patriotism in the last 10 years among Indians who believe that the Central Government can serve its citizens better. 

However, wearing the Constitution on a t-shirt hasn’t become the act of rebellion one might think it would have. Instead, it is lawyers who are purchasing these t-shirts. They are proudly wearing excerpts from the book that guides them at work every day.  

After making the Constitution relevant to the youth, A47 has the General Elections in mind. 

The number of new voters in 2024 is expected to exceed 15 million (number of new voters in 2019). Vora wishes to encourage the youth to exercise their right to vote with the launch of a new collection ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls this year. 

Here's wishing A47 makes voting cool for GenZ come summer.