Launched last Friday, the Japanese retailer’s UTme! Local Delights Collection features five playful designs inspired by popular local foods, including 328 Katong Laksa, Song Fa Bak Kut Teh, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Chilli Crab, and the Kaya Butter Toast Set.
Each T-shirt, priced at S$29.90 (US$23), highlights Singapore’s vibrant food culture with artwork created by local artists Tiffany Lovage and Kenneth Seow. The series also received approval and support from some of the featured brands, including 328 Katong Laksa founder Lim Lucy, as reported by AsiaOne.
The shirts are available exclusively at Uniqlo’s Orchard Central Global Flagship, Jewel Changi Airport, VivoCity, and ION Orchard outlets in the city-state.
The shirts quickly gained attention on Instagram and among those who noticed was the founder of Musoka Club.
The 29-year-old, who launched the local clothing brand in 2020, started getting messages from customers asking whether the Uniqlo collection was a collaboration with Musoka Club.
Some even took to Uniqlo Singapore’s Instagram post teasing the series, commenting that the designs were “eerily similar” to those of Musoka Club and reminding the firm to “respect original work.”
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The Kaya Butter Toast Set T-shirt from Uniqlo’s UTme! Local Delights Collection (left) and Musoka Club’s The Kaya Toast Club T-shirt. Photo from Uniqlo Singapore and Musoka Club’s Instagram pages |
The local brand had released its T-shirt series, also featuring the same iconic dishes plus another one—nasi lemak, in July 2023.
Its founder told The Straits Times that after the social media post gained momentum, she looked into the matter further and discovered that Seow, one of the artists collaborating with Uniqlo on the limited series, follows Musoka Club’s Instagram page.
She initially held back from engaging with the comments but the resemblance was “too similar” for her to stay silent.
“We didn’t want to come off as saying Uniqlo copied us,” she said. “It’s been both heartwarming and painful to watch the public speak up on our behalf while we remained quiet.”
She explained that she hesitated to speak up as she had once faced backlash for speaking out against a newer brand over similar designs that also confused fans.
She stressed that her intention is not to accuse Uniqlo of infringement but to protect her brand.
“When a global brand does something this similar, our original work risks looking like the copy, and customers will think we’re the ones chasing trends,” she noted.
“We wanted to show that we didn’t copy someone else.”
In response to the concerns, Uniqlo Singapore said it is aware of the ongoing discussion around the T-shirt collection.
“We respect the dialogue it has sparked and remain committed to fostering open, thoughtful engagement within our creative community,” a spokesperson said, adding that the series was created to honor the city-state’s rich food culture in collaboration with local artists and beloved food establishments.
The company, which operates 28 stores across the island as of February, has built a strong following in Singapore, where its AIRism oversized T-shirts are a staple in many wardrobes, especially among men, and even dubbed the “SG uniform.”
The Japanese brand launched several Singapore-exclusive releases last year, including new colors for the AIRism T-shirt and products inspired by Singaporean literature in collaboration with the city-state’s National Library Board in March.
