PORTLAND, Ore. — Fans of popular post-punk band Joy Division lined up for hours overnight to pick up a new reissue of the beloved 1979 Unknown Pleasures T-shirt, according to multiple witnesses.
“Joy Division is easily one of the greatest brands of all time, up there with Supreme and Off-White,” said fashion aficionado Kyle Thomas. “I heard it’s gonna be a really faithful reissue — a high-quality pressing on a good, heavyweight material to really get the proper tone. You know… the tone of white.”
“I don’t want to see them remastering anything in a reissue like this. I’m hoping all the squiggly lines are exactly as squiggly as they were before,” Thomas added.
In an official press release, Chaos Designs, the company responsible for printing the re-issue, focused on the honor of being chosen for such an undertaking.
“We are just a small, hole-in-the-wall screen printing shop with two employees, so for us to bring this release back to the masses is humbling,” said Chaos Designs manager Kara Cardell. “The original shirt inspired us so much through the years. We hope this new pressing will continue to inspire other artists and shirt designs in turn.”
Historian and self-proclaimed Joy Division expert Jamie Reynolds applauded the re-issue.
“I’ve been saying for years they should do a repressing — most important release of the ’70s, man. When that shirt came out, it completely changed the scene,” said Reynolds. “Before Unknown Pleasures came around, people just wore straight-forward T-shirts with no sense of melancholy.”
However, while most comments were positive, not everyone was completely thrilled with the reissue.
“I love Unknown Pleasures as much as the next person… but, honestly, I would’ve liked a new run of Closer shirts more. It’s a much more subtle, emotionally deeper shirt,” said Helen Garcia, another fan waiting in line. “It got me through some dark times. When my last boyfriend dumped me, I wore that shirt nonstop for, like, two weeks.”
Online commenters in particular have been particularly harsh so far.
“It’s fucking bullshit, man. These kids are all total posers,” said Instagram user Big_BuickDaddy. “I bet the posers pre-ordering these can’t even name all of Joy Division’s shirts.”