Oswestry man's T-shirt slogan a day - for a year

Most people grumble about the cost of living, overpaid footballers or the trials of parenthood while enjoying a beer in the pub.

But one man from Shropshire has gone a step further by posting his thoughts, observations and frustrations about life on a series of 366 T-shirts.

Since January 1 Neil Phillips, a 50-year-old father-of-four from Oswestry, has been wearing a different T-shirt every day with a self-penned slogan.

• Click on the image to the right for more of Neil Phillips T-shirt slogans

It is part of an ongoing art project and each time he changes his top the new one is photographed and put on Twitter and Facebook.

Mr Phillips has been photographed in his novelty T-shirts around different parts of Oswestry.

Pictures include him buying Smith's bread from Tina's cornershop in York Street, visiting the town's market, drinking Ceylon tea in Radio Café and attending a Kinokulture screening at the Attfield Theatre.

He changes his T-shirt every night as the clock strikes midnight and if he is out late he takes the next day's top with him to change. When he goes to work or has to attend a formal occasion he wears a shirt over the top of his sloganed T-shirt.

Mr Phillips, who works in IT, said the T-shirts were being made for an art project about social media. It was a comment on how people communicate as well as on family life. He plans to gather up all 366 T-shirts by the end of the year and turn them into an art exhibit.

He said: "I had a few T-shirts before this project with random phrases on it. Last summer I was talking about them and somebody said I should do a T-shirt for every day of the year.

"It was a joke idea but I thought. 'I could do this'."

Mr Phillips started writing down phrases he heard in passing or that he himself uttered for the T-shirts. He said he didn't spend time thinking up slogans but just used phrases he found himself saying.

So far he has worn tops with slogans including 'Don't burp into an open fridge', 'This is better than a blog' and 'Hi everyone, I am new to internet social networks'.

He now has enough phrases to print all the remaining T-shirts.

Mr Phillips said: "The reaction I get is very interesting. A lot of people don't understand what it is about. There is quite a different age range asking about it. The young and the old are interested."

On July 13 Mr Phillips held an exhibition at the Ironworks to mark the project's halfway stage.

He said: "There are many creative initiatives and enterprises working for the positive development of the town, like Footfall, the town markets, Os21, Best of Oswestry, Kinokulture, to name just a few. Perhaps a project like 366 T-shirts can bring something to the mix, we don't know."

There are 366 T-shirts as this year is a leap year. A limited release of T-shirts is available at BrightBeadz in Oswestry.

People can follow Mr Phillips's daily T-shirt updates on Twitter @366tshirts or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/366tshirts or visit www.366tshirts.co.uk

• Let us know your best ideas for a T-shirt slogan in the Comment box below - but please keep them clean!

By Chrissy Symmons