I
saw it at their website; I laughed; I appreciated the subtlety of the gag; I
bought one. Here it is:
Later
on, they discontinued this design, despite it being one of their most popular
products. There was a brief moment when it was brought back, but it soon
vanished once more. I should have bought one then but other things got in the
way and I missed my chance.
Years
later, my girlfriend went to the site and saw that the design had been
resurrected – in a somewhat different form from the original – and was now
being issued through the ‘Society’s new Redbubble t-shirt store. She decided to
buy me one as a gift and I was delighted. There’s a problem though – this is
what it looks like now:
I’ve
had this shirt for about 18 months now and the design – as you can clearly see –
has almost completely worn away. I haven’t been wearing this shirt on high
rotation and it hasn’t been brutally washed or mistreated in any way: just
normal wear-and-tear. The shirt at the top of this post has been worn so much
that it’s almost threadbare – I like it a lot – but I don’t wear it anymore.
That being said, it is 18 years old.
The
difference in quality is astounding.
I’m
not warning people to stay away from either the HPLHS or Redbubble – far from
it. All I’m saying is that quality counts and maybe it’s worth shopping around
before you buy your piece of Lovecraft-related tat. I remember that the HPLHS once
declared that all of their merch was produced in-house; maybe it’s cheaper nowadays
for them to go through someone like Redbubble, but maybe, as buyers, we should
pay greater attention to the notion that cheaper prices can usually mean
cheaper quality.
Or
maybe I should just lower my expectations and not expect my Cthulhu-flavoured t-shirts
to last over two decades!
Fhtagn!
