Announcing Winners of the 2026 Crash Wear Merch Design Competition

We are excited to announce the three winners of our 2026 Crash Wear Merch Design Competition. Each entry was unique and speaks to what ME/CFS Canterbury West Coast is all about, community, advocacy, and the lived experience of people with ME/CFS and Long Covid in Canterbury and the West Coast. 

The Winning Designs 

Rachel Rockell - Our Mission and Vision 

Rachel designed a blue hoodie that keeps our signature colour and logo on the front. On the back, yellow daisies sit alongside the mission and vision of ME/CFS Canterbury West Coast. Rachel chose daisies to represent friendship, joy, cheerfulness and loyalty, qualities she wants everyone who wears it to carry with them. 

[Purchase Rachel's design here] 

Karen Morton - Seven Spoons 

Karen's entry is a photograph from a larger photographic essay she is creating about Spoon Theory - the concept used by many people with chronic illness to describe living with limited and unpredictable energy. Seven blue spoons, intentionally blurred to reflect the brain fog that so many in our community live with every day. Her opening line says it simply: "I woke with only seven spoons today." 

[Purchase Karen's design here]

Tamara Barker - Forget M.E. Not 

Tamara digitally drew a forget-me-not flower, duplicated in varying sizes and arranged into a circle, with the words Forget M.E. Not along the edge. The forget-me-not is a symbol long associated with ME/CFS, and for Tamara it represents the millions of people around the world who are missing from their lives because of this illness.  

[Purchase Tamara's design here]

Take a look at all the merch options 

A couple of dollars from every purchase goes directly toward supporting people with ME/CFS and Long Covid in Canterbury and the West Coast so please check out our winning designs! 

Keywords: ME/CFS Canterbury, Crash Wear merch, ME/CFS design competition, Long Covid Canterbury, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis New Zealand, ME/CFS clothing New Zealand, Spoon Theory, ME/CFS awareness, chronic illness merch New Zealand, forget me not ME/CFS