The second coming of Number (N)ine begins just as its 1996 debut did: with graphic tees. And, just like thirty years ago, the founder Takahiro Miyashita is in the driver’s seat.

Miyashita sold the label 15 years ago, handing the keys of Number (N)ine to a new parent company in 2010 leading to the brand becoming a tribute act rehashing Miyashita's musical innovations into watered-down streetwear. Meanwhile, Miyashita spent the last decade and a half with TheSoloist., his rock ‘n roll luxury label which he departed last year. 

Now, the roles have reversed. TheSoloist. will continue operating without the guidance of its founder while Miyashita dedicates himself to Number (N)ine by Takahiro Miyashita. That is the new Number (N)ine's full name, since the parent company Miyashita sold the original name to is still running a separate Number (N)ine label, which recently collaborated for a second time with Supreme (much to Miyashita’s chagrin).

“Back, I missed you,” says the first post on Number (N)ine by Takahiro Miyashita's Instagram page, published September 9. Now, it’s printed on the front of T-shirts in the brand’s first drop, with French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s quotes on the back.

The snippets are ambiguous yet downbeat, including lines like “I saw that all beings are fated to happiness,” and “Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.” Fitting for a brand whose famously grungy tees, now revered in archive fashion circles, include skull graphics and phrases like “PAIN.” repeatedly printed across the front.

The other two T-shirts in Miyashita’s first new Number (N)ine collection in nearly two decades is an ode to two frequent muses, the "godmother of punk" Patti Smith and Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis, whose shirt is backed by his tombstone engraved with the title of Joy Division’s inimitable song, “Love Will Tear Us Apart Again."

The three T-shirts quietly appeared on the brand’s website last week, available for pre-sale in black or white costing between ¥22,000 and ¥35,200 (around $138 to $222), and swiftly sold out. Goes to show there’s still ample appetite for Miyashita-designed Number (N)ine, a good sign for when the brand inevitably extends its purview. 

The first iteration of Number (N)ine evolved from a graphic-heavy affair to elegant, influential runway shows. Don’t be surprised if Takahiro Miyashita's second stab at Number (N)ine follows the same blueprint. 

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