T-shirts to raise money for family of ex-SAS man Steve Askin after Port Hills helicopter death

The T-shirt designs feature the tattoo Steve Askin had on his back. Photo / Illicit

T-shirts honouring war hero Steve Askin who was killed fighting the Port Hills fires will raise money for his family.

Owner of Illicit Clothing, Steve Hodge, said the company had designed several t-shirts to memorialise Askin, who died when his helicopter crashed as he helped pour water on the raging fires in Christchurch last month.

About 50 per cent of the profit for the T-shirts would go to Askin's family. He has left behind a wife and two young children.

Askin was a former SAS member whose picture went viral when he was photographed leaving the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul at the end of a military operation against Taliban militants who had stormed the hotel in 2011.

That photo is on one of the T-shirt designs, Hodge said.

He said they first started making memorial shirts for Luke Tamatea, a Kiwi corporal who died in 2012 when the Humvee he was travelling in hit a 20kg roadside improvised explosive device.

The funeral for former SAS soldier Steve Askin at the Wigram Airbase on February 20. Photo / NZDF

Friends of Tamatea approached Illicit and asked about designing a shirt in his memory.

"We probably raised about $30k for Luke's family," Hodge said.

He had spoken to Askin's wife about the shirts and said she was "open to it".

The T-shirt designs were based around Askin's tattoo and Christian faith.

Steve Askin left behind his wife, Elizabeth, and two children. Photo/Givealittle

He had a tattoo of a cross on his back with the bible verse: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

The design, which was on the top of Askin's casket, is on one of the T-shirts.

Another T-shirt has a smaller version of the tattoo with the words "Lone Wolf", which was a nickname for Askin. There is also a design of a helicopter fighting a fire with monsoon buckets.

Hodge said making the T-shirts was his way of helping the family out. His father was in the SAS as well, he said.

Anyone wanting to buy one of the T-shirts can head to illicit.co.nz to buy online.