PENSION Clothing recently launched their new EMPIRE collection line at Callahan’s Pub in Saint John. PENSION Union Rep Paul Robichaud, a former Irving employee, says the idea behind the company is simple. “We just wanna make New Brunswick give’r again.”
“The idea and concept behind the clothes is pretty straight forward – we’re just putting out the clothes we wanted to see. One of designs features a stubby beer bottle graphic with a label on it that reads, ‘Pension – Brewed With Premium Canadian Ingredients In True Maritimes Fashion’. Take this and apply it to the stuff we try to come up with, and in a way, you get PENSION Clothing“.
The newly launched line features five new t-shirt designs as well as a trucker hat. The new styles play heavily on the pension theme, with graphics that read: ‘Locked Out’, ‘Respect The Process’ , and ‘Union And Proud’. The new line was available for purchase at the Saint John launch event, at that most Johniest of place Callahan’s Pub. Moncton’s The Disasterbaters were on hand to lend a little rock and roll to the affair.
The New Brunswick-based clothing company first launched in Fredericton in May of this year. As one PENSION rep likes to describe their target demographic, this is clothing for hosers. It’s hardcore New Brunswick merch, designed for people who feel that donair sauce is the new black.
“People who like to give’r, that could give a good goddamn, and are only working so they can get their PENSION. PENSIONERS come in all ages and stages, but they have one thing in common – and that thing is the PENSION,” quips Robichaud.
Many of the company’s designs have a distinctively rock and roll vibe. One shirt features a large amp graphic; another a pentagram. Styles featuring classic symbols of New Brunswick are also very popular and are sure to be immediately recognizable, at least to other New Brunswickers.
On whether PENSION Clothing has plans to expand further afield, Robichaud plays coy. “There’s a lot of unfinished business in the Maritimes. And all kinds of new ideas that we got floating around the boardroom to bring PENSION to the nations. The amps can only get louder, the stakes higher, and the road longer – and all roads lead to PENSION“.