Ian MacKaye is totally okay with Urban Outfitters selling $28 Minor Threat T-shirts
Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye says he’s absolutely fine with Urban Outfitters selling $28 T-shirts featuring his former band’s logo. Turns out that, unlike the Forever 21 shirt from 2009, the current model is legit and licensed. Because so many Minor Threat bootlegs had been popping up in the marketplace, MacKaye and Co. hired California-based Tsurt to produce and oversee sales of some T-shirts for the band. Though MacKaye is careful to clarify to the Washington City Paper that Dischord “doesn’t make T-shirts,” he said hiring Tsurt lets him spend his valuable time doing other things besides tracking down bootleggers, something he says is “a complete waste of time.”
MacKaye goes on to say that he doesn’t “give a fuck about T-shirts” and that hiring a company wasn’t a “political thing” for him. He says he’s aware of Urban Outfitters’ questionable ethics and absolutely thinks the company is absurd, but if “motherfuckers” want to pay $28 for T-shirts, that‘s their business. He even likened the purchase to people buying expensive shoes, saying he doesn’t know why anyone does that, but guesses “it makes their feet feel fuckin’ rich.”
It’s worth noting that Minor Threat is not the only band selling a T-shirt through Urban Outfitters right now. There are also shirts from Bad Brains, Misfits, The Velvet Underground, Nirvana, and Joy Division. The site also boasts beer pong-themed tank tops and men’s sweatshirts with kitty cats all over them, just FYI.