Discover how a powerful book sparks a meaningful collaboration and get inspired yourself!
From Inspiration to Collaboration
Sometimes, a book doesn't just inform you, it changes your course. That's exactly what happened when the team at dna merch discovered Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, the powerful collection of historical accounts published by the educational platform Working Class History (WCH).
The book was more than a read; it was a call to action. Page after page, it told the untold stories of workers, organizers, rebels, and everyday people who dared to challenge injustice. For dna merch, a company deeply rooted in solidarity, fair labor, and transformative change, these stories lit a spark.
Out of this inspiration came a bold idea: What if each of these stories became something people could wear, share, and carry forward every single day?
So dna merch reached out to WCH and proposed a collaboration: one shirt, one story, one design, every month. Thus, the “Working Class History T-shirt of the Month” Collection was born, a partnership fueled by solidarity, education, empowerment, and art.
What Makes This Collection Special
Story-Driven Designs
Every design in the collection is based on a real moment, a real struggle, those stories often forgotten or overlooked. From uprisings and labor strikes to radical thinkers and revolutionary acts, these T-shirts shine a light on working-class resistance across borders and generations.
Mission in Every Stitch
This isn't just merch. Behind every shirt lies a commitment: a portion of all proceeds directly supports grassroots labor unions in South Asia, helping to fund organizing, education, and worker power.
At the same time, production of the unisex t-shirts happens at Humana Nova, a worker-owned, self-managed cooperative in Croatia that employs people from marginalized backgrounds under dignified conditions.
No waste. No exploitation. No greenwashing.
All designs are printed on demand and thus do not produce any excess or unnecessary landfill waste. Each shirt is made from 100% organic cotton, printed with eco-friendly inks, and shipped plastic-free. Because what you wear shouldn't harm the people who made it or the planet.
Why This Matters to You
Wear Your Values
When you wear a shirt from the Working Class History Collection, you're not just making a fashion statement. You're lifting up voices of resistance. You're keeping memory alive. You're honoring the people who fought and still fight for justice. And if you're attracted to their stories there's a good chance you're one of them or in the process of becoming one of them.
Support Ethical Practices
Every purchase helps sustain ethical supply chains. It empowers a worker-run cooperative. It helps strengthen real, independent labor unions. With DNA merch, you're not buying from a brand, you're investing in a movement.
Foster Connection
Want to go further? dna merch invites supporters to leave a small message for the workers involved in producing the dna merch unisex organic tees, ideally in the form of a photo that shows them with their new T-shirt. It really matters to the workers and always fills them with joy when they get to see the actual people who are wearing the clothes they made. It's a small gesture of solidarity that helps build bridges between readers, wearers, makers, and changemakers.
How to Dive In
Explore the Book
Start where we did. Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion is an essential read for anyone interested in working-class history, collective struggle, and the power of ordinary people. It's not just a book but a toolkit for remembering, organizing, and resisting. Also follow dna merch and Working Class History on social media as there you will get your daily dose of stories from the WCH archive and thus learn something new every day.
Browse the Collection
Head over to the Working Class History T-shirt collection and discover dozens of story-rich designs. From Chico Mendes to Muhammad Ali, the Kiel mutiny to queer Black feminism, there's a shirt (and a story) for everyone.
Support with Purpose
Whether you buy a shirt, read the book, share a post, or tell a friend, remember that you're part of something bigger. You're joining a global, grassroots effort to make history visible, to support ethical labor, and to celebrate resistance.
More Stories from the Collection
Bread and Roses Strike
Discover the "Bread and Roses" collection
The Working Class History T-Shirt of the Month for March 2023 commemorates the powerful “Bread and Roses” strike, a two-month-long labor action that ended on March 14, 1912, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Initiated by Polish women textile workers and ultimately involving 20,000 mostly female and immigrant strikers, the walkout defied conservative labor norms of the time and instead aligned with the more radical Industrial Workers of the World. The strike's name reflected the demand not only for fair wages ("bread") but also for dignity and beauty in life ("roses"), famously echoed in the protest song lyric: “Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.” Despite facing severe repression, the women's remarkable multilingual organizing, eg holding meetings translated into nearly 30 languages, helped them secure major victories, including a 15% wage increase, double overtime pay, and broad amnesty. Artist and tattooist Nora Lehrmann captured the spirit of the strike in her design: a delicate monochrome illustration of wheat and roses encircled by the dates of the strike, forgoing a slogan to let the imagery speak quietly and powerfully for itself.
The Revolution (Rosa Luxemburg)
Discover the "Rosa Luxemburg" collection
Our January 2022 design honors revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg , who was murdered by right-wing paramilitaries in January 1919 for her role in the German workers' uprising. Created by Semi-Legal-Art , the shirt features one of Luxemburg's most powerful quotes, written just hours before her death in response to government claims that “order” had been restored in Berlin following the massacre of revolutionary workers: “'Order prevails in Berlin!' You foolish lackeys! Your 'order' is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will rise up again, clashing its weapons, and to your horror it will proclaim with trumpets blazing: I was, I am, I shall be!” The design is a tribute to Luxembourg's unshakable belief in the enduring power of collective struggle and the refusal to surrender in the face of oppression.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Discover the "Montgomery Bus Boycott" collection
The T-Shirt of the Month for December 2021 , designed by multidisciplinary Afro-Indigenous artivist Renata Doré , honors the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the courageous Black women like Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin whose actions helped spark it. The boycott, which began in December 1955 and lasted over a year, was a pivotal moment in the US civil rights movement, ultimately leading to the desegregation of public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama. Doré's design features the start and end dates of the boycott and serves as a visual tribute to the often-overlooked contributions of Black women. Through her art, Doré centers the collective memory of the Afro-diasporic community , using imagery that uplifts and affirms their presence and resistance. Her work weaves together the poetics of decolonization, blending visual and urban arts, cyberactivism, Black theater, and audiovisual media . Currently based in Cuba, where she specializes in TV and New Media, Doré brings a powerful, transnational lens to this shirt turning memory into a medium of resistance and pride.
Paris Ballerina Strike
Discover the "Paris Ballerina Strike" collection
On December 24, 2019, ballerinas from the Palais Garnier in Paris took their protest to the streets, performing an excerpt from Swan Lake outside the opera house for free. It was a powerful and graceful act of resistance against the French government's plan to raise the retirement age across the public sector. Since December 5, public sector workers nationwide had been on strike, and the opera's dancers—who have a centuries-old pension system recognizing the physical toll of their profession—joined in. Traditionally allowed to retire at 42 due to the intense strain on their bodies, they now faced the prospect of working until 64. As ballerina Héloïse Jocqueviel explained, by 42 many dancers already suffer from arthritis, stress fractures, and even need titanium hips. Her colleague Shanti Mouget emphasizes the collective decision behind the protest: “We wanted to show the other workers that we are all in this fight together.” Their elegant yet radical performance garnered global attention without risking legal repercussions. Strikes continued into spring 2020, costing the opera millions—until the government ultimately withdrew its reform plans. In tribute to this stunning victory, Italian tattoo artist Fede Borgia created a design in December 2022 featuring a Swan Lake dancer in front of the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Opera, paired with the rallying slogan: “Dance Hard… Strike Harder!” , which is a celebration of beauty, solidarity, and collective power.
War & Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
Discover the "War and Peace" collection
On September 9, 1828, Leo Tolstoy , the legendary author and Christian anarchist, was born in Russia's Tula province. His magnum opus, War and Peace , shaped the way many understand history—not as the tale of “great men,” but as the intertwined stories of countless ordinary people. One of our partners at Working Class History first encountered this idea while reading Tolstoy as a teenager, igniting their passion for people's history. To honor this perspective, Berlin-based tattoo artist Nastia Jakovleva , born in Leningrad, created a design centered on the love between two of the novel's main characters, Andrei and Natasha , at their first dance during the New Year's Eve ball of 1809. Their tender moment represents peace, contrasted by a background of war's devastation. The piece is completed by the poignant quote from the novel: “Everything I know, I know because of love.”
The Voice of the Woman (La Voz de la Mujer)
Discover the "Voice of the Women" collection
In January 1896, “La Voz de la Mujer” (“The Voice of the Woman”), the world's first anarchist-feminist newspaper, was launched in Buenos Aires, boldly calling for class struggle, women's liberation, and sexual freedom. Its powerful first editorial condemned the oppressive conditions women faced and demanded joy and autonomy in life. Met with hostility by many male anarchists, the editors fired back in their second issue, mocking those who insisted male emancipation must come first. Selling up to 2,000 copies per issue, the paper found its audience among working women in cities like Buenos Aires, La Plata, and Rosario. To honor this radical legacy, DNA merch teamed up with Buenos Aires–based artist Meri Prodan (Poxi) , who illustrated the struggle with a striking back print: a wide-open mouth bearing the newspaper's name. The front features a smaller version with the rebellious slogan of the time: “Ni Dios, Ni Jefe, Ni Marido” (“No God, No Boss, No Husband”).
Final Thought: Memory Is Resistance
In a world that erases working-class voices, remembering is radical. Wearing those memories? Even more.
At dna merch, we are driven by the goal to inspire collective organizing for better workplaces, a better and more just society and ultimately a better world. We believe that along that collective path what you wear can be a message, a valuable memory and a useful tool for our movements. Let's be resistant in the present and let's remember the resistance of the past by educating, talking and wearing it together!