The class assignment was simple: design a shirt that says something about your life. So Nima Behnoud made one that said, in Farsi script, "The political prisoners must be freed."

The people who saw his shirt didn't know what the words said, or that the writing referred to Behnoud's father. Friends just liked the look and asked for something similar. He obliged.

Four years later, Behnoud's fitted, handmade T-shirts are available in one of the country's most exclusive boutiques, have been named a must-have item by men's magazine Maxim and are selling quickly online, he says. The 29-year-old Iran native is somewhat bewildered by it all.

"I completely love Iran," says Behnoud, who now lives in Manhattan. "I just want people to know how beautiful it is, how different it is, and that the images that come from our country are extraordinary."

What he has never wanted, despite the design of that first shirt, was to get political. His reasons are personal.

Behnoud's father, Masoud, is a prominent Iranian journalist who has railed against the country's censors to publish calls for political reform. About six years ago, as part of a government crackdown on dissidents, Masoud Behnoud found himself in and out of prison for about two years.

Nima Behnoud was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology during much of that time, and he was anxious about his father's situation. Making the shirts was therapuetic, he says. Behnoud got so involved in his new hobby he took one class at FIT six times just to get access to special equipment.

Behnoud and his friends wore the shirts to parties at city hotspots. One day, a shirt caught the eye of an editor at Maxim. When the editor told Behnoud he wanted to feature the shirts in a must-have list in the magazine last year, he asked Behnoud how people could buy them. That was when Behnoud realized he should probably set up a Web site.

His designs, which some categorize as "Persian punk," are intentionally raw and unpolished, but also manage to look sleek. Most incorporate Persian calligraphy, such as the word "love" written in Farsi. A shirt may bear a verse from the works of the famed Persian poet, Rumi. One shows the Azadi Tower, one of Tehran's architectural landmarks. One of Behnoud's favorites features the seal of Mirza Koochak Khan, who led Iran's "Jangali" revolutionary movement in the early 1900s.

The shirts come with tags explaining their mearnings. His online customers hail from many countries, though he doesn't sell directly to Iran. The shirts -- which sell for an average $60 -- also are available at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Calif., a favorite spot for celebrities and the very rich.

"It doesn't matter where I put it in the store, it still gets attention," says Tony Johnson, who owns the section of Fred Segal where Behnoud's shirts are featured. "For someone that does the calligraphy and used the language into more like an artform, I think that's really dope."

Behnoud considers the Iranian people a great inspiration and influence because they strive to be fashionable despite -- in many cases because of -- strict legal restrictions on what they wear.