We Asked People From Five Countries If Our Designs Were Fair. Here's What They Said.

Every shirt we make is inspired by a country's flag and national symbols. Before we say anything public about any of them, we email people who actually know that heritage — tourism boards, cultural associations, diaspora groups — and ask one plain question: does this feel like a fair, respectful representation to you?

We don't cherry-pick the answers we like. Here is the honest range of what came back.

"It looks good and feels like a fair representation."

Visit Faroe Islands wrote back within two days with exactly that line. Short, generous, and exactly what we hoped to hear — though we never assume that's how it will go.

A real conversation, not a form reply

The National Council of Ghanaian Associations didn't just approve or reject. They asked us a real question first: what did we intend each symbol on the design to represent, and what story were we hoping it would tell? We wrote back with our reasoning, symbol by symbol. That's the kind of exchange we're actually looking for — not a rubber stamp, a conversation.

"You can move the bird further up."

Kiribati Tourism didn't just say yes or no either. They looked closely enough to give us specific, practical notes on the design — the frigatebird's position, the size of the sun — the kind of detail only someone who knows the flag by heart would catch. We're incorporating it.

A polite correction on who gets to answer

The Albanian National Tourism Agency wrote back to clarify, kindly, that they aren't actually the authority on approving national symbols — a fair and useful point, and a reminder that "who do we even ask" is often the hardest part of doing this honestly.

And a flat no

Not every answer was encouraging. The Georgian Association in the USA reviewed the design and told us plainly that it did not reflect Georgian culture the way they saw it, and that they didn't endorse it. No detailed notes, no negotiation — just no. We take that seriously, and it's part of why we keep asking before we publish, not after.

We're a small team, and we don't get to decide on our own whether a design honors someone else's heritage. So we ask. Sometimes the answer is warm, sometimes it's a working list of fixes, and sometimes it's simply no. All three are useful, and all three are the reason we keep doing this the slow way.

You can see the free page that started this whole habit — the real story behind national flags, no design opinions required — at Flag Story Cards.