Darren Boon checks out Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo first local store in the brand new Tampines 1 Mall.
By Darren Boon
I left the scorching rays and stifling heat of mid-day behind, I could feel the cool gush of air as I stepped into the new Tampines 1 mall on Tuesday.
Ditching my favourite haunts of Kinokuniya and Borders in Orchard behind, I was curious and eager to check out the latest mall on the block. I live in the north-east area of Singapore and I rarely head down far-east in Singapore, but the lure of something new and novel was simply too hard to resist. More so was lure of the brand Uniqlo – Japan’s leading fashion retail chain in terms of sales and profits. Uniqlo had left an impression on me for its trendy t-shirts when I visited the chain’s Tokyo outlets last year.
What greeted me at Uniqlo’s first outlet in Singapore and South East Asia was an organised snaking queue of around a hundred people waiting to get into the store. Amongst the queue were adults such as housewives, as well as teenagers and students in uniform.
I was surprised. I have seen queues outside designer labels stores. A certain L brand in Takashimaya comes to mind. But this is Uniqlo! It’s not a designer label. Why would anyone want to queue to get in on a Tuesday afternoon? And then I remembered. As part of the store’s opening sale, Uniqlo UT brand t-shirts are going at $19.90, down from $24.90! Denim that cost $69.90 is discounted at $49.90!
I knew I wasn’t going to purchase anything but nevertheless I decided to join in the queue to get up close and personal with Uniqlo’s Spring/Summer 2009 offerings. It was about a ten to fifteen minutes wait before I finally stepped into the store.
While Uniqlo offers basic and casual wear such as the dry polo tees to cater to those who prefer a simple, understated approach in their dressing, the real stars or the show are the UT Project t-shirts. The impressive range of printed t-shirts comes in eclectic colours and designs. For Japanese computer games geeks, Uniqlo designers have launched a series of game-related tees – printed t-shirts that bear designs of the game characters counting amongst them Pac Man and Bomberman. More designs are to unveiled in the following weeks. Now you can be a geek and a fashionista at the same time!
That’s not all. UT has many different themes for its t-shirts each season. Fans of Japanese animation too can wear some of their favourite Tatsunoko productions popular anime characters on them. In addition, one of UT Project’s for Spring/Summer 09 involved the collaboration with six of the most influential and leading culture magazines for trends, news, and creativity such as Tokion to launch what is known as the World Creative Magazines Now series of tees.
While I’m unsure if the entire range of UT tees is available in Singapore, I personally like the red tee with the word Tokion emblazoned on it. My other favourites include the purple Bomberman tee, the Pac Man tee and the yellow ape escape tee.
For the adventurous and fashionable, another selling point of the Spring/Summer 2009 would be Uniqlo’s coloured denim offerings. These slim fit straight tapered jeans come in various colours such as chilli red, cool purple, vibrant orange, khaki, muted green and pastel pink. The latter two are my favourite colours. I’ve always like the slim straight cuts as they tend to go well with my Converse sneakers. The funky colours add on a bright touch to the exuberance of the spring and summer season and lend guys some added vibrancy and spunk.
Although most of Uniqlo’s denim range is manufactured in China, made-in-Japan denim fans like me need not fret! Uniqlo offers made-in-Japan jeans for men at $99.90 much more affordable than many other made-in-Japan labels. The only minus point for me is that I don’t like button-fly jeans. If you can get past that, I would recommend the selvedge denim for a classy chic look.
Jeans lovers can attest that selvedge denim it the crème de la crème of jeans for its superior quality and more durable fabric. It is also reported that selvedge denim does not fray on the edges.
I feel that most of Uniqlo’s denim offerings are ideal for the Asian man’s height. The jeans length is suitable for those between 168cm and 172cm in height without much need for alteration. However one of the staff informed me that Uniqlo does provide alteration services for the customer.
The Tampines 1 store’s décor can be described as functional and minimalist but spacious enough. What I hope is that Uniqlo would be able to replicate the shopping experience of its UT concept store in Harajuku, Tokyo here in Singapore. Shoppers first browse through the various t-shirts displayed on the racks then locate the product code number and finally selecting the t-shirts which are neatly packaged in clear plastic cylinders and placed on open shelves that look like vending machines. It was a refreshing experience for me. And indeed, the packaging was indeed a nice additional touch to product selling.
Although I didn’t buy anything from the Tampines 1 outlet on Tuesday, I spied many other shoppers leaving the store with bagfuls of purchases. A number of teenagers were busy snapping up the UT tees. Two or three of them even had a basket full of clothes. All this while, I observed that the queue outside the store did not subside as was the queue inside the store for the fitting rooms.
It’s too early to tell if Uniqlo can repeat its success in Japan here in Singapore. But Uniqlo scores high on providing affordable-priced trendy clothes that are cheaper if not comparable to its market competition. The stylish creations of the UT designers and the incorporation of computer, manga, and anime characters in the t-shirts will make any of these fanboys’ fascinations come true!
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What’s this, a paid blogertisment?
Much as my neutrality towards uniqlo, this article and why it is on TOC is intriguing. I thought there would be some insights to something (anything at all, perhaps comparison with other countries with uniqlo, or some sociological aspects about the store’s clientele?) But, its just like any other reportage on uniqlo in some amateurish press and on random blogs. :/
Hi guys,
No money or product incentives involved at all, our writer Darren just wanted to try his hand at something more lifestylish, and we thought heck why not =)
Was at the new Tempenis Mall 1 yesterday, Crowded and the other older malls were half empty because New Jambangs attract more shitters, Am not interested with Uniqlo…just curious why youngsters and students quened to get in ! From the outside, there’s nothing for me (olddies) to buy !
Obamataksamaosama !
Hey guys,
Just to clarify something. I did not receive anything from Uniqlo or anything. It’s just that I’m trying my hand at lifestyle pieces. No offence to anyone out there. It’s supposed to be for light reading.
But thanks k for the suggestion. It is something which I would look into for an idea into the lifestyle piece in the future.
Actually i think “lifestylish” pieces are great to lighten up the mood and entertain. Looking forward to other posts from you Darren. Cheers.
While it may be a refreshing change, I think TOC should stick to more meaty issues which has been it’s forte & not dilute or lose it’s original focus and to prevent it from being confused as yet another ‘lifestyle’ site. Keep lifestyle pieces to other websites/blogs. No offence to Darren.
Nice article, Darren!
Lifestyle is fine as long as TOC maintains an alternative frontpage for such articles.
come on, lighten up guys!
I do think one has to agree that Darren’s piece is a bit too lifestylish, too advertorial, and too off-tangent to the usual TOC pieces, with all due respect to Darren and to TOC editors.
I was expecting an insight to, perhaps, consumer behaviour in a recession.
Darren, if you want to practice your writing, you can always blog, or use facebook notes, and Zheng Xi, perhaps put this piece under “Elsewhere on the Net”?
Was this an experiment to see if “advertorials” might work as a revenue stream – checking out on the viewership? just asking, guys..no offence intended :-)
anyway, i’m a uniqlo fan myslef and nothing beats the uniqlo experience in Japan – where you’ll get great clothes with good Asian cuts, from upcoming japanese designers, at Giordano prices. They dont bring those things to Singapore or HK (where i live).
Dear Darren,
Hey man, thanks for the post on Uniglo.
Its a very good piece. Thanks to your piece, my friend and I will be checking it out next Saturday.
thanks for the ‘break’.
cheers
should charge a fee and earn some money by reporting.
Well, so what if its a bit lifestylish and advertorial? We do need a break from the serious stuff once in a while.
Was in Hong Kong a few months ago and picked up some UNIQLO (Unique-Lo) T-shirts.
Not really low priced, quality feels quite good though.
However they need to go through a few cycles of being slept in, soak in sweat, and machine washed, before one can tell if they are really any good.
Remember many other Brands also had this promising start, Marks & Spenseer, Giodarno, G2000, etc all started with good quality at reasonable price but got greedy, tried to go up-market, and set up too many marginal stores such that they need higher margins per sale, so easiest way was to cut back on quality and increase prices….. another one bites the dust..
Whatever Brand it is…it is all make in China or some other 3rd world country sweatshop…Give it another month or so and the queue will disappear just like the doughnut queue…Next Fad please!
i visit unigolo no many people
maybe the feng start to decrease liao
Well I suppose the fewer number of people you noticed at the store, vbg, as compared to the snaking queues that Darren saw when he paid UNIQLO a visit could be attributable to the end of their opening sales period on Sunday, 19th Apr.
And of course, the correlation between (i) a new big-name player in the local fashion scene, (ii) crazy sales, and (iii) snaking queues should probably be evident to most by now.
The craze will certainly die down sooner or later, but hasn’t the same happened for other imported fashion labels into Singapore, such as Topman and Fox (all of them incidentally Wing Tai Retail outlets)?
No matter what, while there may no longer be snaky queues, the brand will definitely live on amongst its target group, so there’s really no need for such a big fuss.
The popularity of the brand amongst my peers even before it was even launched in Singapore notwithstanding, what stands out is UNIQLO’s affordable pricing of its wares as compared to other brands. (For example, $24.90 for a top as compared to $33 in Topman, $46 in Zara, $55 in River Island etc)
The hospitality and service attitudes of its staff were also a refreshing change – they were très attentive to customers despite the mad crowds present when I visited the store. Also, while footwear is prohibited in their dressing room cubicles, the staff even bothered to arrange the shoes of customers in front of the cubicle doors.
Whatever it is, I suppose UNIQLO is pretty much an exception to the norm. Unlike most other brands that start out in the town area and venture into the heartlands, UNIQLO is the exact opposite. We’ll see the impact the opening of the ION Orchard branch in August will bring to the brand.
And yes, it is nice to read a lifestyle piece on theonlinecitizen for a change!