T-Shirts in Tokyo
In Tokyo, the T-shirt is high fashion.
And finding the right one is a pricey game.
Once you’ve hunted down the perfect design that exactly matches your personality (while also heightening it) and making it so you don’t need to be good in conversation, you have to be willing to shell out about 95,000 yen.
However, in these times, no matter how much your personality could benefit from a textile induced make-over, parting with 100 dollars, FOR A DAMN SHIRT, hardly packs a justifiable ROI.
Enter Uniqlo. Or re-enter Uniqlo. Or just, it never went away, but let’s talk about Uniqlo.
Kings of the ten dollar graphic tee, among other apparel.
They’ve really managed to make an experience out of their brand.
From innovative digital offerings like the Uniqlock, to constantly refreshing websites, to a distinctive retail experience. They feel like the pinnacle of a modern brand. Playing where their customers are at. Keeping the conversations alive and around them. And basically fueling the revolution that they started about making cheap fashion cool.
When you walk into their retail space in Harajuku, it feels more like you are walking into a supermarket. All the shirts are rolled and displayed in plastic cylinders that look like squatty tennis ball tubes. Modern dot matrix LED banners scroll through offerings and prices. The music is usually some kind of unassuming techno, elevator techno? And the shirt designs are ample, from classic 8-bit video game references, to obscure hand drawn characters. It all amounts to the feeling that you have transported ten years into the future.
It’s one of those places that makes Tokyo feel really Tokyo. Probing, colorful and reference fusing. It’s the kind of self-aware pop display that must make Warhol smile at the tinfoil ripples of his influence.
Practical + Cool.
Feels like a formula for sustained success during these times. Not just boasting practical pricing, but continuing to try new combinations to stay innovative in product and in communication.
Well played Uniqlo.
