Comical social distancing T-shirts created by Sheffield manufacturer raise over £1,800 for NHS

Gripple, which runs five sites in Sheffield and one in Rotherham, initially created the t-shirts to drive home the social distancing message to staff amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But, what once started as an internal exercise and not for charity, has now raised a total of £1,818 for NHS hospitals in the region.

The limited-edition designs were all created in-house by Gripple, with the t-shirts being supplied and printed by Rotherham-based Eldon Screen Print.

Each t-shirt was printed with one of four comical social distancing messages which put a twist on traditional Yorkshire expressions and were originally given to staff free of charge.

However, they were so well received across the manufacturer’s social media channels that the decision was made to make them available to buy online in aid of our healthcare heroes.

More than 260 have now been sold – with ‘Oi! Tha’s close enough’ attracting the most interest – and the scheme reached far and wide, with one order of more than £1,000 coming from another employee-owned company in Manchester.

The manufacturer said it had a two-week window for pre-orders and made the exact quantities that were ordered to ensure no waste was created.

Loadhog, the sister company of Gripple, also recently raised £1,400 for the NHS charities by selling boxes branded with ‘Thank You NHS’.

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