Uniqlo Fits Nigo To A Tee

by The Daily Front Row

This week, Uniqlo gave editors a look at their Spring 2014 LifeWear collection including the return of Michael Bastian‘s men’s line (!!!!!!) and the unveiling of the newest collaboration with French style icon, Ines de la Fressange. They’ve also tapped Nigo, best known as the creator of the line A Bathing Ape aka Bape, to become the first-ever creative director of the UT “Uniqlo T-shirts” brand. We chatted with the renaissance man through his translator to find out about his intriguing new role.

Why did you decide to come to Uniqlo?
They approached; the UT brand has been running for about 12 years, it’s really grown, and it has a following. They wanted to set a new standard for what they were doing and they were looking for someone that was going to be able to do it. Uniqlo is doing really huge stuff for the whole world. That sort of set the stage and platform to do something really interesting, so it was immediately an exciting task to take on.

What is your role as creative director?
I’m essentially leading a team. There is a team of people that have been there before, and I’m giving them directions. Obviously on the content side, there are the graphics and that element, but also one element that I’ve brought in was to change the shirts themselves. It is a T shirt brand, so that was kind of his start point to work with the brand, he wanted to look at the garment itself and change that look.

There are a lot of pop icons on these shirts. Do you have a favorite?
There are actually a thousand styles for this season. Snoopy is one of my long time favorites!

Will you just stay within T shirts for the company, or do you want to design even more?
I do a range of some sweatshirts as well, but that is the nature of the project. I’m working within a t-shirt brand, so that’s what I’m is going to concentrate on.

Are you and Pharrell still buddies?
Yes, we meet regularly and text each other.

What do you think of his massive music success in this past year?
I’m super happy about it! And Pharrell is feeling great right now. It’s great to be around him!

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