So as some of you know I went on a short, impromptu trip to New York City last week to visit some friends and get away from it all. Aside from the usual sightseeing - the Met, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, ground zero - I of course had to swing by New York’s SoHo fashion district! There I discovered Uniqlo!
Uniqlo (a play on words “unique” and “clothing”) is a Japan based fashion company that produces clothing for women, men and children that would be comparable to H&M, or similar to Old Navy or Gap. But aside from the street and everyday fashion, they have a division of graphic tees where they pair up with artists and designers to create and recreate new and old favorites.
As I approached the store, I was completely stunned! In the windows were giant decals of anime characters! And the store inside itself is impressive. With three floors, there’s even a glass elevator in addition to the staircase. When you first enter, you’re greeted by a huge glass fixture with a rotating mechanism that showcases their huge variety of graphic tees.
The New York location, which opened in 2006, is unfortunately the only store in the US. They did at a time have a few places where they distributed but those have vanished since the installment of the stand alone store. They do, however, have locations in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and the U.K.
While you can visit their official website to learn about the company, there is no online store or catalog, so all purchases are made through the stores only. This was pretty disappointing since they come out with new shirts all the time! I must have spent a good 45 minutes craning my neck up the high walls to get a good look at all their shirts. They offer a mix of pop culture, movements, news, and lots of anime in their tees!
Here’s a few photos of what I took and found…
The next few photos are all from the graphic tees section… only a half level was dedicated to the tees but boy, did they make good use of that small space!
Listening station on the third level
When I told the cashier that Lum was a favorite, she gave me her shopping bag!
This is their only and current catalog.
A glimpse at their fashion line from Japan fashion week
The Harajuku location which acts like a giant vending machine and dispenses shirts in tubes.
I snagged a Yoshitaka Amano t-shirt…
and a glittery Lum shirt…
I’m actually going to reconstruct these and create something new! Check back later for the outcome!
Visit the official Uniqlo website.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
What, no e-commerce store yet. Oh well. I sent an email hoping to see if they have my sizes on about 6 shirts. Thanks Jinx, there goes another 100 + dollars of my budget.
Seriously though, it seems like an awesome store. Thanks for sharing this one.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:43 am
That does look like an awesome store! Great pics, Jinxie!
May 6th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Great find, Jinxie. Wish I had known about it when I was up there last week!