The problem:

Carfree people are walking around right now without anyone knowing they are carfree!

The solution:

Let them wear clothing and accessories that declare their carfreeness to the world.

Let's get started.

I am not aware of any line of clothing where the word "CARFREE" is prominently displayed.

If there was such a fashion label, I might not have enough spare $$ to buy it. So, let us make patches that can be sewn on to our bags or our clothing we have bought from thrift stores.

To the right, you can see a bag that my grandma, who does design for heat factory, made for me. I don't carry around a bag that big all the time, so I need:

• Something to decorate my smaller bags
• Something to decorate me

What is out there?

Before we go through the trouble of designing and producing our own patches or clothing line, let's see what we can find on the internet.

There are plenty of stickers, but this page is not about vinyl...

and Carbusters is and selling a "Towards Carfree Cities" t-shirt.

Microcosm publishing, of Portland, OR, USA  has the anarchist/grunge end of things covered with their t-shirts and patches. Below is some of what they sell that is anti-car or pro-bike. Until the links go bad, clicking on the images should take you to the pages where you can buy them. They seem to be adding new stuff, so this page may soon be out of date. Some of their shirts are used (printed on pre-worn t-shirts. Nice.)!

Microcosm's t-shirts (with a carfree theme):

Microcosm's patches (with a carfree theme):

backpatches are bigger

	backpatch	backpatch
	backpatch
	backpatch
	(backpatch)

Some of these patches are also available at stickergiant: fuck cars, car death (andy singer), one less car.

Now what?

So, we've inventoried the Microcosm product line, but they don't have what I'm looking for. I think what I want is a simple classy patch, perhaps an embroidered one, that says "Carfree" or "CARFREE" or "CAFRE" or some other creative variant. I'd like the patch both on a white background and, in inverse colors, on a black background. We also might want to make the "F" stand out like the US CarFree City group does, by changing the color or capitalization of the "F".

The audience I wish to target are not the rabid bike lovers, but the people like me, who would rather walk, and who rarely ride a bike.

If in the unlikely event someone wants to become the carfree "HILFIGER", here are two links to the somewhat interesting "Christian" project of making clothing lines that somehow express and advertize their faith:

• http://believerswear.blogspot.com/
• http://www.relevantmagazine.com/article.php?sid=4552
• http://towleroad.typepad.com/towleroad/2004/09/fashion_stateme.html

The last link doesn't quite fit. But I could swear I saw a real t-shirt like that one that is made out of tape. And that impression I got--real or imagined--has lent a sinister air to all of the christian clothing companies...

If I or anyone starts producing the patches I'm looking for, I'll update this page.