On your first day at a new tech company, you can probably expect one thing: a hefty package of company swag waiting at your desk.
This merch — hats, T-shirts, the branded Patagonia vest of Wall Street’s past — usually comes in drab navy, with an embroidered sans serif logo. As defense tech has risen in favor among venture capitalists and job seekers alike, some companies are pushing the concept further, designing cheeky swag that blurs the line between marketing and meme.
Allen Control Systems, a defense tech startup, printed its core product, an AI-automated weapon station that shoots down drones, onto T-shirts with the slogan “if it flies, it dies.” The company isn’t just handing them out to employees and investors. It’s selling them for $30 a pop.
“People are wearing it on their first day of college,” Steven Simoni, Allen Control Systems’ president and cofounder, told Business Insider about his company’s T-shirts and sweaters. “More kids are coming out of school who want to work in defense.”
The fashion statement signifies how Silicon Valley is now thinking about defense tech. Venture capital firms are racing to find the next defense contractor, and early-career workers are courting defense tech startups.
Such enthusiasm marks a sharp shift from just a few years ago: In 2018, thousands of Google employees protested the company’s involvement with Project Maven, an AI collaboration with the Defense Department. At the time, Google pledged not to pursue AI for weapons or “surveillance violating internationally accepted norms.” Earlier this year, though, the company updated its ethical AI guidelines and made no mention of those stipulations.
“Not long ago, it was considered taboo in Silicon Valley to work in defense, let alone proudly wear that company’s logo on a T-shirt,” Jen Bucci, Anduril’s vice president of design, told Business Insider via email. “Today, the opposite is true. We’re at a moment where some of the brightest minds are choosing to put their talent toward national security, and they’re proud to stand behind it.”
The cultural shift has coincided with a heightened focus among investors and founders on foreign adversaries like China. “The zeitgeist has changed,” Simoni said. “We’re in a very dangerous time. China is manufacturing drones at an unprecedented rate. People are waking up to that and want to get involved.”
Anduril, the defense tech darling that makes drones and AI battlefield systems, has also done a few merch drops. Past ones have included bullet-riddled relics from ballistic testing and other limited-run items. The company said it donated all of the proceeds to two military-focused nonprofits.
Palantir, the publicly traded defense-tech-and-data juggernaut, launched its merch store in 2024 to engage with the public and its cadre of retail investors. So far, Palantir has done three merch drops, recently selling 1,000 hats in under three hours, according to Eliano Younes, who leads strategic engagement at the company.
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Younes, who focuses on reaching content creators and retail investors covering the company, thinks Palantir’s merch taps into a cultural moment. “Palantir is a lifestyle brand,” he told Business Insider.
“It’s free marketing for us,” Younes added about the merch. “There’s no downside to this operation. It’s only upside.”
The company’s next release — dropping Thursday — will feature a watercolor shirt of CEO Alex Karp. Younes spun it up because, as he put it, he “grew up seeing people with rappers and athletes on T-shirts,” he said. “Karp is a cultural icon.”
According to Younes, employees, investors, customers, and “people who love Dr. Karp” are the primary Palantir swag buyers.
Similarly, Allen Control Systems sells to investors, employees, and the occasional fan, Simoni said, adding that the company might have “a luxury collab” in the works. Younes has high hopes for Palantir’s offerings, too, and wants to lean into “more creative stuff, like Palantir for the home,” such as logo’d espresso machines, and “Palantir for skiing,” since Karp is an avid cross-country skier.
When asked if he knows of anyone who wears Palantir merch as a joke, Younes replied: “If so, thanks for the free advertising.”
Have a tip? Reach Julia Hornstein at jhornstein@insider.com or securely at juliah.22 on Signal using a nonwork phone and wifi connection. Follow her @julia_hornstein on X.
