The History and Future of Uniqlo UT: Celebrating UT 20th Anniversary with Kashiwa Sato & Kousuke Kawamura.

Twenty years ago, UNIQLO began producing fun, exciting graphic T-shirts. But it wasn’t until 2007 that these T-shirts were given a name—UT— by creative director Kashiwa Sato, who provided his branding expertise to also design a logo and define what the UT brand is all about. Now, UT is gaining a new creative director in artist Kosuke Kawamura, who is sure to bring even more exciting collaborations to the table. UT’s 20th anniversary celebration also includes the launch of the Archive Project, which will bring back high-profile designs from past collections. In this interview, Sato and Kawamura give their thoughts on the future of UT.

Turning T-shirts into a “cultural catalog”

This year, Kosuke Kawamura is joining UT as its new creative director. An artist who makes collages out of shredded materials, Kawamura has already worked as a collaborator on many UT projects. He first became aware of UT back in 2007, when UT Store Harajuku opened. “I remember being shocked by the idea of a T-shirt in a bottle,” he says, “and surprised by the variety of the lineup. It was rare to find a T-shirt brand that featured graphics by so many famous artists. Plus, it was affordable. I didn’t have a lot of money at the time, so I often turned to UT. One shirt that I particularly loved was from a collaboration between UT and Tadanori Yokoo.”

Over 500 different T-shirts were displayed in　plastic bottles—inspired by those one migh find containing snacks at a retro Japanese snack shop—at UT Store Harajuku when the store opened its doors in 2007.

Kawamura first partnered with UT in 2019, when he designed a collage for a Dragon Ball collection. “I was thrilled because I’m from the Dragon Ball generation,” he says.

“Since UNIQLO is such a big company, I expected there to be a lot of orders and instructions, but they actually gave me a lot of freedom. They commissioned me for several other collages after that first one but almost never asked me to change anything. For the Andy Warhol collab, they even told me, ‘If there is a piece you want to use, let us know, and we’ll get permission.’ Now that I’m on the inside, I intend to maintain this artist-first attitude, which I think is key if we want our collaborators to keep contributing good designs.”

As he steps into the role of creative director, Kawamura is keenly aware of the importance of balance. “There are many well-known artists and brands that still produce wonderful things, so I certainly want to continue collaborating with them,” he says. “But I don’t think that should be our only focus. I also want to call on artists who I’ve worked with before but are not yet well-known. There are so many people who create great work but haven’t yet had their big break. My goal is to create a platform that pulls these people in and elevates the next generation of artists. I want to strike a balance between the famous and the unknown.”

Kawamura envisions UT becoming a “cultural catalog” for those who wear the shirts.“The great thing about UT is that it is reasonably priced and accessible to everyone,” he says. “Also, we produce a huge number of T-shirts that highlight many different genres of culture—music, art, manga, anime, and more. My hope is that our T-shirts will become a cultural catalog that teaches young people about new things that they don’t yet know much about. Some people might think it tacky if you wear a T-shirt promoting a band you don’t know, but I hope that people won’t worry about that and will just wear whatever they think is cool, even if they don’t know the inspiration of the design beforehand. Maybe they’ll try to find out more about that band. I also think of T-shirts as a canvas to showcase our identity. I hope that people from all walks of life will want to wear our designs as a kind of personal message board.”

Kawamura’s first task as creative director was to design the 20th anniversary UT logo. The collage he created is a fresh take on Kashiwa Sato’s original UT logo, making it the first collaboration between the two. “I was anxious about the logo because it had never been changed before,” Kawamura says. “But Kashiwa told me to just go for it, so I gave it my all despite my nerves.”

Years after coming up with UT’s name and logo, Kashiwa Sato still plays an important role in the brand’s direction.

UT would not be what it is today without Kashiwa Sato, one of Japan’s most influential creative directors. One might even call him the father of UT. The tale begins in 2006, when UNIQLO consulted with Sato for the design of its flagship store in Soho, New York.

“In opening the Soho store,” he says, “we centered our branding around an initiative we called the Japanese Pop Culture Project. UNIQLO collaborated with Japanese creatives in all sorts of fields to print their art on T-shirts, which were very well received by New Yorkers. Following the success of that project, Mr. Yanai [Tadashi Yanai, Chairman, President, and CEO of UNIQLO] asked me to create a full-fledged brand focused entirely on T-shirts. Most fashion retailers sell T-shirts as just one product among many, so the idea of creating a T-shirt brand on a global scale was intriguing, and I agreed to get involved.”

Sato says that his first task was to come up with a name. Once he had hit upon the name “UT”—an abbreviation for “UNIQLO T-shirts”—and tackled the logo, he then turned to the brand’s sales strategy .The idea that came to mind was a store that sold nothing but UT, located in the heart of Japanese street fashion: Harajuku. And so, in 2007, UT Store Harajuku opened its doors. The store’s concept was that of a futuristic T-shirt convenience store in which the shirts came packaged in plastic bottles, offering a novel shopping experience that quickly made the store a Tokyo tourist attraction.

The entrance of UT STORE HARAJUKU. in 2007.

“From the very beginning,” explains Sato, “I wanted to focus on online sales as much as the brick-and-mortar stores. I envisioned UT as a go-to brand for niche T-shirt designs, with a huge variety available at all times. But I also wanted to keep in stock an archive of T-shirts that had been sold in the past. That idea is finally coming to fruition; we are reprinting a selection of past designs to mark UT’s 20th anniversary.”

For this interview, Sato is wearing his favorite T-shirt, which features a design inspired by the works of Andy Warhol. “As part of the Kashiwa Sato Exhibition at the National Art Center in 2021, I presented the UT Store, including the experience of shopping there, as a work of art. I also designed 27 new T-shirts for the exhibition, one of which is the shirt I’m wearing. It was exciting to be able to present my latest vision of the UT Store at a national museum, so all of the designs from that exhibition are very meaningful to me.”

UT is celebrating its 20th anniversary by welcoming a new member to the team: Kosuke Kawamura, a collage artist who will serve as the new creative director. So what does Sato expect from Kawamura’s tenure? “UT occupies a very important position in UNIQLO’s branding,” says Sato. “UNIQLO makes LifeWear and simple, everyday basics; UT is also centered around a very basic item—the T-shirt—but grants incredible freedom when it comes to what is printed on the fabric. In a sense, UT is where UNIQLO’s edgy side comes out to play. I am entrusting Kawamura with directing the future content of UT’s shirts. I hope that he will make the most of his unique brand of creativity to give UT an even edgier image.”