Every collection has a rule it follows, whether or not the people making it say so out loud. Ours is straightforward: a phrase earns a place if it means something specific to people who share the reference, and nothing embarrassing to anyone who does not.
What that rules out
Phrases that only work as a punchline. Anything that positions one language as the "proper" one and the other as decoration. And translations of English slogans, which are the most common mistake in this category — a phrase that started life in English and got converted rarely sounds like something anyone would say.
What it rules in
Phrases people already use. Greetings, small expressions of exasperation, the shorthand that comes out when you are relaxed. These carry more identity than any grand statement, because they are what actually gets said.
There is a reason a football chant means more to a supporter than an official club motto. The chant belongs to the crowd. The motto belongs to the letterhead.
On typography
Two languages on one garment need to sit as equals. That sounds obvious and is easy to get wrong — a smaller point size, a lighter weight, or a lower position all quietly rank one above the other. We set both at the same weight and size, and if a script needs more space than the Latin alphabet, it gets more space.
The collection
The Bilingual collection is the result. It overlaps with the Pidgin collection, which follows the same rule for a single language — background in Pidgin and Standard English.
Available across t-shirts, hoodies and the kids range. More on the reasoning in wearing your heritage.
Further reading: Wikipedia: British English