Alana Haim made the shirt Taylor Swift wore Wednesday night to the Knicks vs. Spurs game at Madison Square Garden, turning a private text into the custom “Stevie Knicks” top that landed in the middle of a very public NBA Finals moment. Swift wore the blue and orange shirt during Game 4, and Haim said she made it herself at home.
The detail matters because the shirt was not just a one-off gift. It was part of a larger custom Knicks-merch cluster that also included Mariska Hargitay and the Haim sisters, with Este Haim in “Knickelback,” Alana in “Knickole Kidman” and Danielle in “Knickolas Cage.” But Swift’s shirt is the one readers are looking for, because it came with a story of who made it and how.
Haim said she has long been obsessed with merch and has a custom T-shirt and tote bag side hustle, but she only figured out screen printing after buying a Cricut after her last tour. She said she built a little setup at home, cut vinyl with the Cricut, put it on a screen and squeegeed screen-printing paint over it. A representative said she used royal blue Gildan shirts from Michael’s, where they cost $2.99 each, then added orange Speedball ink with a puff additive for the Wednesday game.
That homemade process is the piece that separates this from a celebrity game-night outfit post. Haim said Swift texted her before Wednesday’s game asking for the shirt, and the two went back and forth on the puns until they landed on a version meant for the night and meant to be fun. Haim said she wanted a puff-paste effect, which gave the shirt the raised look that fits the playful, throwback feel she was aiming for.
Haim also said the impulse came from a habit, not a one-time idea. She said she has been into merch forever and makes shirts and tote bags for friends and tours, which explains why the request did not seem like a stunt to her. It sounded like a friend asking a friend to turn a joke into something wearable.
For now, the unanswered part is not who made the shirt. It is how quickly the request moved from text message to finished product before Wednesday night’s game, because Haim made clear that the shirt was built at home, by hand, and in time for Swift to wear it in New York.
