TOKYO — Uniqlo said Friday that its UT brand has cooked up a three-way collaboration collection with New York-based artist Kaws and popular children’s television show “Sesame Street.” The line of T-shirts will be available beginning June 29 at Uniqlo stores across Japan, as well as via the brand’s online shop.
UT is a subbrand of Uniqlo specializing in graphic printed T-shirts. It is known for its collaborations with various corporations, artists and designers, including Disney, Pixar, Sanrio, Ladurée, Discovery Channel, Takashi Murakami, Andy Warhol and many more. It previously worked with Kaws on a “Peanuts” collection, which featured an outline of Snoopy with the artist’s trademark crossed out eyes on black-and-white T-shirts.
The “Sesame Street” designs follow a similar but more colorful style and feature beloved characters such as Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and Big Bird. In some cases, the T-shirt designs also include the artist’s own original character. There will be a total of 23 designs in the collection, 16 in unisex adult sizes and seven for children.
The collection is the latest example of Kaws’ close ties to the world of pop culture and demonstrates the humor he injects into his projects. It is also in no way his first venture into fashion, as he has previously designed for companies including A Bathing Ape, Undercover, Nike, Vans and Comme des Garçons.