New Clothing Line Reminds TSA of the 4th Amendment

(Dec. 7) -- Not thrilled with the Transportation Security Administration's new touchy-feely pat down techniques and full-body scanners? Now there's a line of underclothes that offer a friendly reminder of the Fourth Amendment during controversial searches.

It's called 4th Amendment Wear.

Metallic ink printed on shirts spells out the privacy rights stated in the amendment and is designed to appear in TSA scanners.

Courtesy of Tim Geoghegan

Using metallic ink, 4th Amendment Wear is designed to appear in TSA scanners.

Creators Tim Geoghegan, 34, and Matthew Ryan, 28, both advertising professionals, designed the clothing as a conceptual art piece but ended up selling out of their limited stock shortly after launching their website last week.

They initially came up with the idea after removing their shoes while going through airport security on a business trip -- before the current TSA privacy debate erupted.

"I realized the tops of socks were a good canvas," Geoghegan said. It was a perfect place to print the Fourth Amendment and make a statement.

"It's not that I'm against searches, because I think they're something we have to do," Geoghegan told AOL News. "It's just to raise the issue of privacy, the things we have to go through now. I figured the Fourth Amendment raises those questions but doesn't really take a side on the issue. It gets people to re-read the amendment and brings it up for discussion."

When the TSA began employing more aggressive body searches, Geoghegan and Ryan evolved the idea to take advantage of the scanner technology.

"I figured if we could create metal type that would appear in these scanners, it would be pretty awesome," Geoghegan said.

"We're giving people a voice when they don't have a voice at all," Ryan added.

Mixing iron powder with ink, each letter of the amendment has about as much metal as a standard rivet on a pair of jeans.

"We had been talking to some of the manufacturers of the body scanner machines and got advice on what would show up the best," Ryan said.

Yesterday they received test results confirming the ink is effective and that the shirts function as desired.

The 4th Amendment Wear line also includes non-metallic options, including underpants for both adults and children. Should a passenger be stripped down, instead of the full amendment, they'll receive a more direct message: "Read the 4th Amendment Perverts."

"If you're getting that close to kids' underwear, you have license to say something a little tongue-in-cheek," Geoghegan said.

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With a quick sellout on the first run and bloggers abuzz about the concept, Geoghegan hopes it might attract a company with the infrastructure equipped to handle growth.

"I'm not looking to get into the T-shirt business," he said. "But it suddenly has a lot of equity; someone might be interested to take it on."

And while passengers might appreciate the cleverly passive-aggressive way to say something during a search, Geoghegan hopes TSA workers won't take it personally and emphasized it's only meant to raise questions.

"I think if they saw the Fourth Amendment stuff on there, depending on the environment of the day and where they are, they would probably appreciate it," he said. "I only hope this doesn't end up getting me a body-cavity search."