Washington, D.C. — since July 16, 1790

B ★ DC

You can ♥ NY. But everybody wants to Be DC. The city's first logo and motto — one mark, and a star that means whatever you want it to.

Shop the collection What does it mean?

Man wearing a white B★DC t-shirt on the National Mall, Washington Monument behind him

The mark

Read it like the alphabet

Say the letters out loud — B, D, C — the way you'd say ABC, and it sounds like Be DC. Wearing it is a personal endorsement of the city: pride in it, confidence in it, a clear choice for it.

Stylized capital B, navy blue

The letterform is taken from the handwriting of the U.S. Constitution — DC is the seat of government.

★

Five-pointed star

Same shape as the stars on the U.S. and DC flags — a placeholder for any word you want to put after "Be."

Serif font

The font used to write laws.

●

Specific Red, white & navy

The official colors of the U.S. flag and the DC flag.

"You can ♥ NY —
but everybody wants to Be DC."

"New York has a logo. Virginia is for lovers. Philly has LOVE and xoxoxo. DC didn't have a logo. We're changing that."

— Founder, B★DC

The platform

One star, any word

The star stands for whatever message you want to send. Every event, team, and institution in the city can adopt the motto and fill in its own verb — and so does every piece in the shop below.

★Be welcomeDulles Airport

★Be challengedMarine Corps Marathon

★Be seducedMount Vernon Wine Festival

★Be informedDC.gov

★Be the fanWashington Nationals

★Be outrageous17th St. High Heel Race

★Be(come) educatedUDC / American University

Did you know

Why DC needed a brand

WFhy does a city with this much going for it have no mark of its own?

16.4M

visitors a year — yet only 17% came for a plain vacation or getaway. Most came for business or to see family.

$27.1B

in development completed since 2001, with billions more under construction at the time.

270K+

jobs added since 2000 — nearly half of them in professional and business services.

of the most resilient regional economies in the country, barely losing jobs through the 2009 recession.

Figures from Washington.org visitor statistics, the Greater Washington Initiative, and WDCEP.

Shop

Wear the mark

A small starter line, printed to order so nothing sits in a warehouse. Every piece fills in the star with its own Be ___ and carries a fact about the city on the hang-tag.

★ Be seen

Classic Tee

$16.94

Did you knowThe DC flag's three stars and two bars are lifted straight from George Washington's family coat of arms.

Notify me

★ Be AdMo

Adams Morgan Tee

$18.42

Did you knowAdams Morgan Day, held every September since 1978, is DC's longest-running neighborhood street festival.

Notify me

★ Be Shaw

Shaw Tee

$18.42

Did you knowShaw's Howard Theatre opened in 1910 and hosted Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and James Brown.

Notify me

★ Be Dupont

Dupont Circle Tee

$18.42

Did you knowEvery year since 1986, drag queens have raced down 17th Street in heels on the Tuesday before Halloween.

Notify me

Dark heather tee with the B★DC mark, navy star

★ Be independent

Independence Tee A

$18.50

Did you knowThe B in the logo is the same lettertype as the Declaration of Independence.

Notify me

★ Be independent

Independence Tee B

$18.50

Did you knowThe B in the logo is the same lettertype as the Declaration of Independence.

Notify me

★ Be bold

Crop Top

$30.50

Did you knowDC's cherry trees were a gift from the city of Tokyo, first planted in 1912.

Notify me

★ Be warm

Hoodie

$36.50

Did you knowAt 555 feet, the Washington Monument was the world's tallest structure when it was completed in 1884.

Notify me

★ Be covered

Snapback Hat

$25

Did you knowDC's street grid was laid out in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French-born engineer in the Continental Army.

Notify me

★ Be game

Baseball Cap

$25

Did you knowNationals Park opened on the Anacostia waterfront in 2008.

Notify me

Printed and shipped by our production partner as each order comes in — ships in 2–5 business days. Free shipping on orders over $50.

Contact

Say hello

Questions about an order, a partnership, or the mark itself — reach out.

Email: bdcpromotions@gmail.com
Based in: Washington, D.C.
Shipping & returns: Every item is made to order. Sizing exchanges within 30 days; misprints and damaged items are replaced free.