Uniqlo scales circularity in collaboration with Central Saint Martins

Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo, which focuses on clothing designed to make everyone's life better, has launched a scalable upcycled limited-edition collection created using returned items in collaboration with graduates from the BA Fashion course at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.

The 10-piece ‘Everyday Re.Imagined’ collection, launches June 25, in 15 Re.Uniqlo Studios across the UK and Europe, and features items that rework existing Uniqlo garments through upcycling, repair and creative reconstruction, designed to offer a “fresh perspective to everyday LifeWear essentials”.

At the heart of the limited-edition collection is the concept of “giving returned items a new life,” explains Uniqlo, with the range featuring AIRism T-shirts reshaped, trousers rebuilt, and cotton fabrics reworked, meaning that no two items will be the same. At the same time, “each piece retains the character of the original garment”.

While each piece is unique, the collection also marks a shift in Uniqlo’s circularity goals, as this marks the retailer’s first scalable project, and will act as a blueprint for future collections and collaborations, as well as a way to shift consumer perspectives on circular collections, by making it “desirable”.

Uniqlo challenges Central Saint Martins graduates to rethink circularity

Maria Samoto le Dous, head of sustainability at Uniqlo Europe, said at an event in the retailer’s Covent Garden showroom: “At Uniqlo, everything begins with LifeWear, it’s about creating high-quality, simple clothing that improves everyday life, and for us to keep evolving, it's important that we keep pushing our boundaries and rethink new perspectives, and that’s why this partnership with Central Saint Martins is very important.

“Central St Martin's is known for really fostering the next generation of designers, and for having a lot of individuals who challenge conventional wisdoms and also rethink materials. That mindset is particularly important in circularity, because circularity is not necessarily only measured by rethinking existing systems; we also need to think about it completely from scratch, how we actually design products and how we use clothing.

“This Blueprint project started as a real challenge, to solve customer returns, especially those that are difficult to repair, and we asked ourselves how we can take these existing garments and how we can also reimagine them in a way that is fun, desirable, and relevant for our customers.”

As well as being scalable, the ‘Everyday Re.Imagined’ collection has also been designed to be easily adapted and created in-store at the Re.Uniqlo Studios and is affordable, with prices ranging from 29.90 to 89.90 pounds.

The collection will be available at Re.Uniqlo Studios on Oxford St, Regent St, Covent Garden, and Coal Drops Yard in London, and Edinburgh Princes St in the UK, as well as at Uniqlo stores in Paris, Berlin, Antwerp, Stockholm, Rome, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Madrid, Warsaw, and Gothenburg.

Samoto le Dous added: “This is also the first time we are doing it at scale, so it is very exciting for us, and obviously it’s not just a one-off, this is a blueprint collection.

"What's unique about this is that we can take those designs and we can continue to readapt and reproduce them. We can also involve them over time based on customer feedback. The ambition is really to learn from this, to keep refining it, and to build a more scalable, long-term approach to circular design."

Uniqlo launches first scalable circularity collection

Samoto le Dous concluded: “One of the goals is also to make a shift change in mindset. Circularity or circular fashion can often be associated with a compromise, something that's secondary or can be very technical, so we wanted to show with this project that circularity can also be creative, and it can be expressive, and it can be desirable. It's not only about extending the life cycle of the garment physically, but it's also about extending it emotionally, so we really want to reconnect that piece and make customers just enjoy and fall in love with what they wear, finding solutions for it.

“Ultimately, the goal is to make circular fashion part of everyday life and part of our everyday customers' lives, and I think this project also shows that innovation in fashion doesn't always have to start with something new, but can also be about seeing what already exists.”

Commenting on the collection, Sarah Gresty, course leader of the BA Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, said in a statement: The most exciting ideas in fashion often begin by looking at something familiar in a completely different way.

“Through this collaboration, our graduates have transformed everyday garments into pieces that are inventive, thoughtful, and full of possibility. It shows how creativity and experimentation can breathe new life into existing materials, challenging us to rethink the value and potential of the clothes we wear every day."