Uniqlo Collaboration - Dragon Ball
Uniqlo is a Japanese clothing designer, manufacturer, and retailer. The company is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, which was originally named Ogori Shoji. Founded in Yamaguchi prefecture in 1949, Ogori Shoji was a company that owned a number of clothing stores called “Men's Shop OS”.
Uniqlo History
1984 saw an expansion into Hiroshima prefecture with a new clothing store called “Unique Clothing Warehouse”, which catered to both male and female demographics. In 1988, during brand registration procedures, the name was misread and registered as “Unique Qlothing”. This mistake led the founder Tadashi Yanai to then change the name nationwide to “Uniqlo” as we know it today. The parent company was then also renamed “Fast Retailing” in 1991 and the company saw a rapid expansion over the next three years, resulting in over 100 Uniqlo stores throughout the nation.
Soon after, Fast Retailing began to sell products exclusively belonging to the Uniqlo brand. Designing and manufacturing their own products via outsourcing to Chinese factories alleviated production costs while forward-thinking advertising campaigns, product quality, and retail practices were all met with huge success. In dealing exclusively with their own brand products, Uniqlo cultivated a particular image among clothing retailers. The clothing lines were mostly very basic, with variation mainly occurring in the color and sizes. However, while it was also obvious that Uniqlo was basing its product lines on current and upcoming seasons, it also managed to keep its style very relevant to current fashion trends.
From 1998, Uniqlo went from opening its first store in Harajuku, Tokyo, to having over 500 stores throughout Japan come 2001. After separating Uniqlo from Fast Retailing and establishing Fast Retailing (Jiangsu) Apparel in China, 2002 saw the first international Uniqlo outlet in Shanghai, China. Soon after, four more stores were opened in London, England. After 2005, Uniqlo began expanding and opening stores in various countries including the United States, Hong Kong, and South Korea. By 2007, Japan had over 700 domestic stores and an expanding international presence that carried it into becoming one of the top five apparel retailers in the world (GAP, H&M, Inditex and Limited Brands being the other four).
Uniqlo now has stores all over the world, including countries such as; Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, China, Hong Kong, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Denmark, and Sweden.
Uniqlo has gained a great deal of fame not only for it’s basic yet fashionable “fast fashion”, but also for it’s specially designed underwear called Heattech. Heattech is made from special warming material that provides warmth without excessive layers of clothing. It can convert moisture to heat, thus keeping the wearer drier and warmer during cold temperatures and seasons. The Heattech range expands even to knitted caps and gloves.
Uniqlo Shonen Jump 50th Anniversary Collaboration
In mid 2018, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the weekly serialized comic magazine Shonen Jump, Uniqlo released a line of printed t-shirts featuring various designs of characters from the magazine’s stories. Designs included Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and other favorite series. As for the Dragon Ball designs, images included Vegeta powering up from the Saiyan Saga and the resulting beam struggle, Goku and Final Form Frieza standing face to face and even one of Yamcha’s death scene when fighting against the Saibamen. The products were released gradually starting in April 2018, with the last line finally hitting stores in July of the same year.
Uniqlo x Kosuke Kawamura Dragon Ball Collaboration
In November 2019, Uniqlo teamed up with Kosuke Kawamura to create a limited Dragon Ball series of printed t-shirts and hooded sweaters. The series features a number of interesting designs. For example, a black t-shirt features a Great Ape Vegeta on the front and, on the back, a sword-wielding Yajirobe flying towards his tail. Others include matching Goten and Trunks t-shirts, with Goten performing the fusion dance on the left side of one t-shirt with “FUUUSION!!” printed above while Trunks does the same on the right side with “HAAAA!!” printed on top. Basic prints of Goku and Broly are also available with a particularly detailed collage of all of the Namek Saga characters arranged in a ball above Goku charging a Spirit Bomb. The range has a variety of sizes and colors for men, women, and children.
Kosuke Kawamura
The designer of the Dragon Ball UT collaboration series, Kosuke Kawamura, is a world-renowned collage artist, graphic designer, and art director. He has worked to create graphics for various apparel brands, including collaboration t-shirts. Not only that, but he has also been known for designing concert and event posters, DVD and CD covers, advertisements, and other works both domestically and internationally.
Links
Dragon Ball Series
Dragon Ball Z Series
Dragon Ball Kai Series
Dragon Ball Super Series
Dragon Ball GT Series
Super Dragon Ball Heros
Akira Toriyama