Is wearing your heart on your sleeve like wearing your flag on your sleeve?
May 06, 2021
Our national pride is all caught up in “Flag Fashion”. We wear our love of country on our hats, shirts and even bikinis but is that the right thing to do?
At RealAmericanFlag.com we take our flags seriously ensuring every inch of our flags, right down to the thread we use, are sourced, fabricated, and assembled here in the United States. Because of our passion for the flag, we understand how many of you can be passionate enough to want to wear the stars and bars on your body.
Flags as fashion is not a new trend.
With the turn of the century and the advancement of the printing processes on fabric and metals, American’s had new ways to show their patriotism. Around 1898 Flag Day was proposed, and the Pledge of Allegiance was created for school children.
“It was the start and growth of patriotic groups like the Sons of the American Revolution.“ [Reverence for the flag] started in the North, but then it spread nationwide.” Historian Marc Leepson, author of Flag: An American Biography.
In 1942, a set of guidelines around the display and use of the flag of the United States, called the U.S. Flag Code which you can find here on the RealAmericanFlag.com page, was established, though it was unenforceable.
“You’re not going to get arrested for being in violation of the flag code. There’s no flag police,” Leepson says.
Think about what happened after 9/11. Many American’s wanted to show support for the fallen and our strength as a nation. According to national surveys, somewhere between 74 percent and 82 percent of Americans displayed flags in some form following the attacks.
We especially felt it here at RealAmericanFlag.com and research shows that the clothing we wear is deeply tied to our identity, belonging, self-presentation, mood, and values. So it’s no wonder that the flag, and all that it could symbolize, has become a staple of the fashion industry and many people’s wardrobes.
Americans are not the only patriotic people. In Denmark the flag — affectionately called the Dannebrog or “Danish cloth” in ancient Danish — is everywhere. It flies on public buildings and churches to celebrate local and national holidays, including Denmark’s Flag Day.
On June 15th, the flag is hoisted over private homes to mark occasions like weddings and funerals, anniversaries and graduations, or just plain fine weather. It is printed on gift-wrapping paper. It decorates birthday cakes and Christmas trees.
Head to Britain where the 1950s brought in the commercialization of the Union Jack. This flag has been enthusiastically stamped on goods and shopping venues, perhaps in celebration of the nation’s survival of so many trials to become a peaceful and affluent society.
In recent years, the Union Jack became the selling symbol of British cool, a design icon on posters, mugs, tourist souvenirs, record cover sleeves, cars, sneakers, garments – like the notorious Union Jack underwear.
Head to Britain where the 1950s brought in the commercialization of the Union Jack. This flag has been enthusiastically stamped on goods and shopping venues, perhaps in celebration of the nation’s survival of so many trials to become a peaceful and affluent society.
In recent years, the Union Jack became the selling symbol of British cool, a design icon on posters, mugs, tourist souvenirs, record cover sleeves, cars, sneakers, garments – like the notorious Union Jack underwear.
If you ask people who know many cultures, like the President and CEO of RealAmericanFlag.com you’ll get a first-hand explanation between “us and them” and how we wear our flags.
“I can tell you from experience no one flies a British Flag on their homes unless there is a soccer game or other sporting event. It is an everyday sight here in the good U.S of A to see our flag adorned outside houses in cities and suburbia, rich and poor neighborhoods”. Robert Hutt President/CEO North Bay Industries
Show your National Pride by flying a real American flag made from 100% homegrown cotton and made in the country that we love, order one today at RealAmericanFlag.com today.