UT: Bright lights, cheap shirts
11am-9pm
$
Mastercard
Visa
Cash
The red LED headlined ticker at Uniqlo's Harajuku UT store looks fancy but never seems to relay any highly-important messages. (Photo by Flickr user dominiekth)
Clothing retailer Uniqlo created the sub-brand UT (Uniqlo T-shirt) to compete head-on with Tokyo's cool T-shirt labels and shops. The launch of the tee line was soon followed by a flagship store in the heart of Harajuku.
Enlisting the aid of Japan's design royalty for the interior and branding -- starting with superstar Kashiwa Sato as creative director -- Uniqlo created an extraordinary shop with scrolling LED messages and T-shirts stuffed in plastic tubes. The shop space would easily overshadow the products on sale, if the T-shirts were not all priced so mind-blowingly cheap (starting at ¥1,500).
Few manage to enter UT and walk away empty-handed.
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