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The symbol, colloquially referred to as the 'two cheeses', was designed by Reginald Shipp for the Board of Trade's Directorate of Civilian Clothing.

It was intended to be distinctive but have no special meaning,[2] and the Board of Trade stuck to that line when journalists asked what the two 'C's stood for - possibly 'civilian clothing'[3] or 'controlled commodity'.

The government introduced Limitation of Supply Orders that forced manufacturers to produce only a fraction of their pre-war amounts.

Churchill, although thankful the public accepted the move, replaced Lyttleton with Hugh Dalton (a Labour member of the coalition government since 1940) a month later.

The austerity provisions governed exactly what could or could not be used in the manufacture of clothes and shoes (for example, number of buttons, pleats or pockets, height of heels, amount of lace or embroidery, no turn-ups on trousers and no double-breasted suits).

[6] The symbol was to appear on clothing, footwear and furniture and the single, identifiable mark quickly allowed the public to know if an item was tax-free or not.