The Shophound

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Uniqlo Taps Social Media For Suno & Michael Bastian Collaboration Contests

Monday will be a bigger than usual day at UNIQLO as the Japanese based chain launches its first major collaborations with American designers in several seasons. To make sure you don't miss out, the retailer is running two contests through Facebook and Twitter to drum up excitement among customers.

There's not much time to enter Contest #1. The lucky winner will receive a "Personal Shopping Experience" with either designer Michael Bastian or the Suno designers Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty at the collections' launch party on Monday May 20th at the Uniqlo Fifth Avenue Flagship plus a $100 shopping credit to spend at the event. Entrants must register on Facebook HERE, and then Tweet a question to the designers at @UniqloUSA that you would like them to answer including the tags, "#AsktheDesigner @UNIQLOUSA" all before 3 PM tomorrow, May 17th.

Contest #2 is giving away 10 of Michael Bastian's Uniqlo Polo Shirts each week to winners who choose their favorite styles from the collection on Facebook HERE. You can re-enter once every hour, so it's up to you to increase your odds.

UNIQLO Launch Party with Michael Bastian and SUNO, UNIQLO x Michael Bastian Polo Giveaway (Facebook)
UNIQLO (Official Site)

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: More On Uniqlo's Collaborations With Michael Bastian & Suno

May 20th is going to be a big day at Uniqlo stores as they unveil their first American designer collaborations in a few seasons. The hype is already starting. Yesterday, the retailer released the video above which shows designer Michael Bastian discussing his polo shirt project. The secret, it turns out, is a perfectly fitted short sleeve that maximizes bicep shape, so take note. From what we can tell, it looks like there may be nearly 50 different styles and colorways in this collection, which is an impressive offering.

As for the Suno line debuting on the same day, there is no video yet, but the fashion blogs are all abuzz for the first big high-profile collaboration from designers Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty. We have scoured the internets to find as many images we could of the collection, so click on our gallery below to see what's to come.

You may be inclined to line up in front of the nearest Uniqlo store on May 20th to make sure you get the best choice since the polo shirts will all be priced at a mere $19.90, and the Suno collection is reported to top out at $39.90. Remember how much fun it was to queue up for those +J launches? Yeah, anyway, now that there are three giant flagships plus new mall stores popping up every other minute, it might not be such a crush this time around. We recommend checking the lower profile 34th Street store first, since the weekday crowds there are lighter than on Fifth Avenue or in SoHo, and it tends to be the last to sell out of things. This time, as a back up and for customers who are not near an Uniqlo store, you will be able to purchase the collections online which should also make things easier, and don't forget to watch this space as more information is released.

UNIQLO x Michale Bastian (Official Site)
Previously:
Uniqlo Turns Back To America For Lines With Suno & Michael Bastian

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COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Uniqlo Turns Back To America For Lines With Suno & Michael Bastian Updated

It has been a while since Uniqlo has tapped American designers for its many collaboration lines. The most recent we can recall was a team-up with Costello-Tagliapietra for a series of well-received dress collections a couple of years ago, and we would have to go back even longer to remember Designer Invitation collections from American menswear brands like Loden Dager, Tim Hamilton and Gilded Age. Lately the chain has been focusing on Japanese women's sportswear designers, but that will change next week when the store launches a plethora of new polo shirts designed by Michael Bastian (who is having a busy week of publicity right now). There's no shortage of polos on Uniqlo's shelves right at this moment, but Bastian's will add the designer's special signatures including bold, unexpected prints, and a devotion to perfect proportions that trims down the silhouette and creates an arm enhancing sleeve. “It should fit right above the biceps to give the illusion that you are just about to bust out of it,” he tells the New York Times, so you may want to either buy a size up or just put down that bagel.
Forever.
The best part is that they will retail for a mere $19.90 which less than a fifth of what a similar shirt might cost even from the designer's less expensive collection for Gant.

Bastian isn't the only American designer to check into Uniqlo's studios this season. Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis of the women's label Suno will have a collection of cotton dresses hitting the chain's store's next month, just in time for Summer wardrobe shopping.

You can plan to wear your new clothes on a Friday night to the Museum of Modern Art, where Uniqlo will become the exclusive sponsor of its Friday night free admission program which waives entry fees on that day from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. The chain will take over the sponsorship from Target on May 3, and the first 1000 visitors on that night will receive special Uniqlo tote bags, so mark your calendars

Front Row: The Polo Rebuttoned By Eric Wilson (NYTimes)

UPDATE:
It turns out that those Michael Bastian polo shirts won't be hitting Uniqlo stores until May 20th, so save the date. GQ.com has 23 images of them HERE and HERE. It can't hurt to make your choices early.

The $20 Dollar Polo That Looks Like It Costs $200  &  See More from the Uniqlo x Michael Bastian Polo Collection (GQ.com)

ROLLING RETAIL: Keep An Eye Out For Uniqlo's UT Truck

You would think that with three huge Uniqlo stores in Manhattan and two brand new ones in the suburbs, everyone would be pretty well versed with the Japanese mass sportswear chain, but just in case you can't make it in to one of the stores, they will be sending a big truck full of the latest UT T-shirts all over town for the next three weeks or so. The Shophound found it at Broadway and 18th Street yesterday afternoon, and chances are they will be at a neighborhood near you sometime this month. Click HERE for a schedule of times and places where you can find the truck. For the next four Saturday, it will be parked at Gansevoort Plaza in the Meatpacking District with special performances and celebrity guests. As for the T-Shirts, there seem to be more than ever. Among the dizzying array, are new styles from ever more popular, if no longer living artists like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat along with plenty of Disney, Peanuts, Hello Kitty and any number of other Japanese video games and Manga characters that you have probably never heard of but look really cool. Since they start at $19.90, you can afford to have a little bit of fun with them.

Uniqlo UT 2013 Pop-Up Truck (Official Site)

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION Uniqlo & Theory Team Up For T-Down

If you do not yet have a down jacket or vest from Uniqlo, then you may be one of the few people in New York who has been able to resist their well-priced outerwear. Well, the Japanese chain is not ready to give up on you yet. This week it is launching a team-up with sportswear powerhouse Theory for a capsule collection of outerwear for women, men and children called T-Down. The line will have an bit more fashion edge than Uniqlo's usual basics, and at the same have much lower price tags than Theory's typical fare, topping out at $149.

This particular venture was probably not oo difficult to arrange, as both Theory and Uniqlo are corporate siblings —part of the Fast Retailing company. This makes it more of a family affair than some of the retailer's other collaborations, and a well timed one, hitting stores just as the cold weather starts to really settle in. The T-Down collection will be available at both Uniqlo and Theory stores and Theory.com this Thursday, November 15th.

Theory And Uniqlo Get Down (Style.com)

ONLINE UPDATE:UNIQLO's Online Store Opening Next Week

UNIQLO has been a bit cagey about when they would finally offer online shopping in the U.S., but we now have a full confirmation that not only is it happening, it's happening next week. What better time than to take advantage of heavily hyped new store openings in Paramus, NJ and San Francisco, CA?

Of course, with an abundance of Uniqlo flagships here in New York, why would we need to shop online? The company plans to offer an even greater selection than they offer in their stores. The new site will reportedly offer a whopping 50 colors of fleece jackets, for example, and men’s easy-care shirts will be available in 115 sizes instead of the meager six currently carried in stores. We're not entirely sure how they can offer 115 sizes of a single item unless they are intending to sell to giants and dolls as well as regular humans, but we figure they know what tye are doing. Along with serving customers who have been cultivated by existing Uniqlo stores, the new business will help the chain decide where to place new brick-and-mortar units, and if successful, could result in a move of its e-commerce headquarters to the U.S. as it rolls out to other countries.

As with all Uniqlo store openings, virtual or otherwise, there will be special deals to be had next week including Japanese engineered denim for $9.90, cashmere sweaters from $59.90 to $99.90 and ultralight down jackets for $49.90, so if you haven't gotten one of those things for yourself by now, you really have no excuse to pass it up.

Uniqlo to Launch U.S. E-commerce Site (WWD)

COLLABORATION DEFLATION: UU Uniqlo Undercover Gets Pushed To The Sideline

Somewhere between the release of a flashy and fanciful advertising campaign for the Fall seasons and its arrival on the sales floor, UNIQLO's enthusiasm for the final season of its UU Uniqlo Undercover collaboration line evaporated. It's already on sale (see below). It isn't terribly surprising that that the burgeoning chain wouldn't want to go overboard on promotion once it was announced that the collaboration with designer Jun Takahashi would not continue past this season, but even on its launch day, the label was relegated to the atrium side aisles of the Fifth Avenue flagship's mezzanine.
In retail, that's what we call Siberia.
This is in stark contrast to the initial collections which were given prime real estate on the store's main, top floor complete with their own specially designed carpets and display furniture. Now the Fall deliveries, which have barely been on the floor for three weeks, are on sale. While it may just be a temporary price promotion, it looks like UU has not been able to muster up the same kind of excitement as the chain's previous +J label designed by Jil Sander. Even that line was a bit overstocked in the end, mostly due to the opening of an additional two flagship stores last Fall. If you still have a hankering for a last bit of masstige Jil Sander, there is still quite a bit of that year-old collection on clearance at the Fifth Avenue store, and even it has a better location in the store than UU.

It's too bad that the line doesn't seem to have caught on better. It has some great pieces at excellent prices, especially in men's and women's outerwear. And it's launch seems to have encouraged the chain to bring children's clothes back to its U.S. stores. It is now children's apparel that has mostly taken over the mezzanine level of the Fifth Avenue store that was originally designated for the chain's designer collaborations. Uniqlo executives promise that they are working on a new ongoing designer collaboration project, though it is hard to think of a designer who might be available in the way Jil Sander uniquely was. That line probably only ended because, unbeknownst to us at the time, Sander was planning to return to the luxury label bearing her own name. Hopefully, Uniqlo will find s new design partner with her appeal, and they are about to get a better sampling of their American customers' tastes. Next month, the first West Coast flagship store will open after much buildup and fanfare in San Francisco, but next week, the retailer will take a second shot at the New Jersey suburbs with a store opening at Garden State Plaza in Paramus meant to be a template for smaller, suburban stores that will take the brand's expansion to a new level. Having spent many years serving only New York City in America, we will soon see how Uniqlo responds to its customers' demands in other parts of the country.

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: The Final UU Uniqlo Undercover Colllection Hits Stores Tomorrow

The next few weeks will hold a flurry of activity from Fashion Week and all of its activity including Fashion's Night Out to all manner of store openings plus collaboration debuts from target and the Gap. Getting a jump on things is Uniqlo, which will release the second and final season of its collaboration with designer Jun Takahashi, UU Uniqlo Undercover, tomorrow.

While the line has not caused quite the frenzy of +J, the chain's previous team up with the designer Jil Sander, it has proved to be full of great casual sportswear pieces and also heralds the return of children's apparel to New York's Uniqlo stores. The Fall line looks even stronger than this past Spring's offerings, and this will be your last chance to shop this particular collaboration. You can take a look at the collection on Pinterest HERE and see more of the clever giant insect inspired ad campaign HERE.

UU Uniqlo Undercover (Official Site)
UU Uniqlo Undercover on Pinterest
Previously,
Here's A Preview Of The Final UU Uniqlo Undercover Collection Arriving In One Month

THIS WEEK'S CELEBRITY APPEARANCE: You Have A Half-Hour To Meet Novak Djokovic At UNIQLO Tomorrow

The dead of August is not usually the time for celebrity appearances at retailers, but U.S. Open begins on Monday, and UNIQLO is making the most of it's recently named Global Ambassador Novak Djokovic by having his visit the chain's Fifth Avenue flagship store tomorrow morning —but you had better be quick. The Wimbledon champion will only be available for a scant half-hour between 10 and 10:30 AM. If your timing is right, you will be able to win tickets to the U.S. Open, but keep your camera in your pocket. Digital photographs will be taken by a Uniqlo photographer only, and will be accessible via Facebook, so make that smile count, and expect it to be seen by millions.

Novak Djokovic at UNIQLO on August 22nd at 666 Fifth Avenue at 53rd Street from 10 to 10:30 AM, Midtown

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Here's A Preview Of The Final UU Uniqlo Undercover Collection Arriving In One Month

The good news is that the Fall 2012 UU Uniqlo Undercover collection, the collaboration between the huge Japanese retailer and designer Jun Takahashi, will be arriving in the chain's U.S. stores on August 31st. The bad news is that it will be the last one. What was initially implied to be an ongoing collection will be ending earlier than we would have expected. While the line is more casual and sporty than its sleek predecessor, the +J label designed by Jil Sander, it is a bit broader based and has returned children's clothes to Uniqlo's New York stores. Customers found lots of clever and functional details in the Spring deliveries, and that should continue in the upcoming Fall collection which will include Takahashi's take on Uniqlo mainstays such as Heat-Tech and Ultra Light Down outerwear as well as an N-3B arctic military coat. This season also brings another whimsical advertising campaign featuring giant, benevolent bugs. Uniqlo has posted more detailed looks and product shots on a Pinterest page rather than on its own website, so you can click over there and do whatever it is people do on Pinterest, or have a look at a preview slideshow below. While we are waiting for the first Fall delivery to arrive in the chain's three New York stores, we can ponder who will be the next designer to team up with the chain.

UU Uniqlo Undercover (Official Site)
 UU Uniqlo Undercover on Pinterest
Previously:
UU Uniqlo Undercover To Hit Stores On March 16

 

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