Custom Class T-Shirts and Graduation Merch for Kenya TVET and Polytechnic Students (2026)
TVET and polytechnic students in Kenya order custom class t-shirts for your graduation, send a WhatsApp link, and let classmates pay M-Pesa individually. No class secretary stress. Starting from KES 5,000 for a full class.
There is a Kenyan ritual so universal it crosses county lines, institution types, and income brackets.
It goes like this: The class secretary opens a WhatsApp group. They type "class tshirt contribution KES 500 each, M-Pesa to 0700-XXXXXXX." Then they spend the next two months chasing the 7 classmates who haven't paid, negotiating with a printer who keeps moving the deadline, and explaining to everyone why the shirts are arriving three days after the ceremony they were supposed to wear them to.
If you've been a Kenyan student at any level, you've either been the class secretary or you've been one of the 7 people being chased.
There are over 850 registered TVET institutions in Kenya. The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority of Kenya (TVETA) certifies everyone from the Kenya Coast National Polytechnic to Kenya Institute of Mass Communication to every county polytechnic in every county. Each of those institutions has dozens of classes. Each class has a graduation. And almost every one of those classes wants a custom t-shirt.
That's a lot of class secretaries. That's a lot of stress. Design Yangu was built, in part, to fix exactly this.
Universities get all the attention. But Kenya's TVET sector technical institutes, polytechnics, trade schools, vocational colleges serves a massive, often overlooked population of young Kenyans (18-30) who are some of the most practically-minded, value-conscious, and entrepreneurially-inclined people in the country.
A software development student at Kenya School of Mass Communication doesn't have a different set of aspirations than their counterpart at the University of Nairobi. But they might have a tighter budget, a stronger community spirit, and a much clearer view of what money is for.
Decision-maker: The class secretary (or class rep). One person with a WhatsApp group and a mandate from classmates. - Budget: Pooled contributions. KES 300-600 per person is the sweet spot for TVET classes. If there are 30 students at KES 500 each, the total is KES 15,000. - Payment method: M-Pesa, always. Contributions come in at all hours from wherever classmates are. - Timeline: Usually ordered 4-8 weeks before graduation or a major event (attachment ceremony, farewell party, inter-class competitions). - Design priority: Something that shows the class name, year, institution name, and has a memorable phrase or inside joke. The more personalised, the more pride.