From Britney Spears’ baby blue “Dump Him” number, PJ Harvey’s ”Lick My Legs”, and Kim Gordon’s ”Girls Invented Punk Rock, Not England”, to more recent versions like Charli XCX’s spicy “They Don’t Build Statues of Critics”, the slaggy, in-your-face slogan tee will never go out of fashion. Cut to last week, when Luca Guadagnino’s long-anticipated tennis three-way flick Challengers landed on screens, and one particularly bolshy iteration has gotten everyone talking: the grey “I Told Ya” top, which members of the cast have also been wearing on the press circuit (when they’re not dressed up as Wimbledon ball girls or walking Loewe billboards, obvs).

Though you could dig it up from the depths of Redbubble and Etsy for years, Challengers’ costume designer Jonathan Anderson decided he’d have a go at peddling his own version ahead of the film’s release, with grey marl and white colourways dropping on the Loewe site for a cool £225 – sources say it’s close to selling out, so if that’s your bag probably don’t wait to drop your hard-earned $ on it.

Otherwise, for those will a little less cash to splash, we’ve compiled a list of some of the hottest stores to score a punchy tee so you can say it with your chest – from the Winona and Gwyneth-obsessed Misc-en-Scène, to secondhand Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine grails, to fierce but frilly little numbers for modern-day riot grrrls.

MISC-EN-SCÈNE

Dropping offbeat odes to the likes of Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow – plus problematique silver screen icon Lydia Tár – Misc-en-Scène is the thinking girlie’s go-to for weirdo slogan tees: because who doesn’t want to plaster Paltrow’s golden nugget statement, reading “I’d rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a tin” across their chest? I rest my case.

CHRISTOPHER REID

Inspired by 90s icons like Courtney Love and Anna Nicole Smith, queer Scottish designer Christopher Reid turns out pieced-together, upcycled tees that declare their wearer “Miss World”, a “Dirty Girl”, or a “MILF in Training” – some bearing scrappy patches of Pamela Anderson, Paris and Nicole, and the Olsen twins, cutesy bows, and frilly lace ruffles to the sleeves and neck.

OGBFF

OGBFF is by no means underground any more, but it’s an OG and one you should still have your eyes on it for brash, bolshy tees that demand you “MOVE, I’M GAY”, “HOT PERSON AT WORK”, or, my personal fave, “TITS FOR BRAINS”. They’re fresh out of an episode of The Simple Life, Ice Spice is a fan, and one (or two, or three) deserve to be added to cart. 

COPYCAT PRESS

Copycat Press is a truly sensational store dedicated to digging up and reinterpreting iconic movies and music in a brand new way – from caps bearing Björk and Enya’s logo, as well as Charli XCX lyrics, to tees emblazoned with literary heroes including Sylvia Plath, Lana Del Rey, and The Smiths (yes, I said literary), with a bunch of pieces inspired by cult horror titles like Possession thrown in for good measure. Best of all, its founder is moving cross country in the coming weeks, so according to a recent post, lots of stock will be going cheap via an online ‘yard sale’. 

YARD 666 SALE

Dane, the proprietor behind Yard 666 Sale, takes the kind of naff old slogan tees beloved by Facebook mums and turns them into cursed but brilliant tops you definitely won’t want to wear in front of your own mum. Recent drops have included a baby-gro plastered with “Little Cuddle Monster” turned into a vest top that reads “Dildo Cum Tester”, and an “It’s Never Cool 2 Be A Bully” tee transformed into a style reading “I Love 2 Bite Boner’s Y’All”. Not only adept at making the most fucked up t-shirts on Instagram right now, the anonymous proprietor is likely to be a formidable opponent on Countdown, too. 

JERKS STORE

London’s Jerks Store is so good, it’s become a go-to for Marc Jacobs and Sofia Prantera, who stock their Heaven and Aries flagships with secondhand tees dug up from genres spanning grunge, shoegaze, riot grrrl, and more. Up for grabs right now on Jerks are Hole, Dinosaur Jr, Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, Deftones, and Oasis baby tees. Do I need to go on? 

UNIFIED GOODS

Also in London is the by-appointment-only Unified Goods (which you can also shop online). Its t-shirt selection is smaller than some of the names on this list, but when they drop them, do they drop them. Mixed in with collectible merch from cult films and pop culture moments – from Japanese flyers for Paris, Texas, Trainspotting, and Blue Velvet, to pristine and uber-rare Sonic Youth cassettes and Twin Peaks board games – the brand recently dropped tees spanning early Aphex Twin releases and OG tops worn by Apple employees in the 90s. 

DIRECTOR FITS & THE CINEGOGUE

I’m lumping these two elusive Insta retailers in together as, right now, there’s not much to show you – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hit follow, sign up to receive alerts on drops, and prep your bank card for when the time eventually comes. Both labels look to cult cinema for inspiration, with Director Fits recently dropping odes to The Phantom Thread and Lynch’s Dune, as well as an exceptionally sick Videodrome soundtrack tee I’m still livid I missed (FYI Cronenberg fans: the auteur features heavily within the rotation). The Cinegogue does similar, but you’ll need to sign up to see what it has in store – it’s an IYKYK kind of vibe.

ONLINE CERAMICS

Not so IYKYK is Online Ceramics, which pretty much everyone is (or should be) aware of by now. The US graphic tee label continues to turn out some of the hottest, and most niche tees, available right now, spanning cutesy prints that call for world peace and kindness, to gory horror-inspired motifs created in conjunction with everyone’s fave movie distribution company, A24. Right now, OC is peddling a merch line for mega-anticipated Kristen Stewart release Love Lies Bleeding, and it’s really fucking good.