Inspired by the inquiry into alleged gatherings at Downing Street while the rest of the nation was in lockdown, the Uxbridge-based garment printing and embroidery specialist tweeted a spoof design for a ‘Sue Gray and the party detectives’ t-shirts with ‘2020 tour’ dates on the reverse.

The design was subsequently updated with ‘extra dates’ as the extent of the scandal unfolded. 

There was a clamour from customers for the firm to produce a range of t-shirts with the design, but Balcony Shirts partner Scott Raisen decided that would be inappropriate, as “it feels a bit off to make money from the hideousness of it”, so instead opted to make a one-off garment to be auctioned on eBay in aid of the charity.

Celebrities including Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt, entered bids, and the t-shirt was eventually sold to an anonymous buyer for £820. 

And yes, we chucked this in with it. pic.twitter.com/CXT5t2AUle

— Balcony Shirts (@balconyshirts) February 3, 2022

Balcony Shirts also made this extra t-shirt for the successful bidder

“I couldn’t believe how much it went for. The whole point was that we didn’t want to make money from the situation, but so many people were asking for the shirt,” Raisen explained.

“We had half a million views on that tweet, and to raise so much money was brilliant.”

Online scraper bots also ripped off the firm’s design, offering it for purchase on t-shirt aggregator sites. 

“That always happens now with the bots, it just happens instantly,” Raisen added.

“We’ve been doing this a long time and we just have to kind of get over people ripping us off, because otherwise it would drive me mad and there’s nothing you can do. It was the same with our Lady Hale spider brooch t-shirt.”

Shelter also benefited from other Balcony Shirts connections who donated directly to the charity in lieu of making a bid.