• Woman on a Helsinki street wearing the burnt orange May the Sisu Be With You t-shirt, Very Finnish Problems
  • Man on a Finnish deck wearing the navy May the Sisu Be With You t-shirt, Very Finnish Problems
  • Close-up of the yellow May the Sisu Be With You screen print on a black t-shirt, Very Finnish Problems
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Very Finnish Problems

May the sisu... Finnish Culture T-Shirt

May the sisu... Finnish Culture T-Shirt

€27,95 EUR
€27,95 EUR
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Sisu is the Finnish word for a quality that doesn't translate cleanly into anything else. It sits somewhere between grit and determination, but without the performative edge those words sometimes carry. May the sisu be with you shirt borrows from cultural vocabulary most people already know, but means it without irony. In Finland, sisu is the thing that gets you through the winter, the setback, and the situation that was worse than expected. It is not loudly celebrated. It is just what you call on when you need it.

A fitting gift for anyone facing something difficult, or anyone Finnish.

Unisex fit, true to size. 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (heather colours contain polyester). Fabric weight 4.2 oz/yd². Pre-shrunk, side-seamed, with shoulder-to-shoulder taping.

The shirt itself

This is not a tourist shop shirt that goes stiff and sad after one wash. The design is printed straight into the fabric using DTG, so it stays soft and will not crack, peel or fade the way a pressed on transfer does. The blanks are OEKO-TEX certified, which means they are tested free from harmful substances and safe against your skin. Every shirt is printed to order in small numbers rather than mass produced and left in a warehouse, so what arrives is made for you and built to be worn for years.

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Joel Willans, founder of Very Finnish Problems

Designed in Helsinki by someone who actually lives here

Very Finnish Problems is run by Joel Willans, a British writer who moved to Finland over twenty years ago and never quite got around to leaving. Every design comes out of real Finnish life he's had with his Finnish wife, Anna and their kids, and a community of more than 1.3 million people who know exactly what no niin means.

Read Joel's story