Latest news with #Uniqlo
Metro
13 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- Metro
Customers sing the praises of Uniqlo's £34.90 'crease-free' barrel leg trousers
Metro journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more Barrel leg jeans have been the on-trend trouser in recent months, and the style is not going away any time soon, which is music to our ears as we think we have found the new 'It' style to shop now. Uniqlo's Jersey Barrel Leg Trousers are a worthy investment because they deliver on comfort, style and affordability – plus, the design has garnered high praise from shoppers. Crafted from a cotton fabric blend, which offers a soft jersey boasts a mid-rise waist, ankle grazer length and relaxed barrel leg design fits at the waist and balloons around the knee before it tapers at the in three colourways, including off white, khaki green and navy blue, all of which come in sizes XXS to XXL. BUY NOW FOR £34.90 The Jersey Barrel Leg Trousers boast the classic cinched in waist, balloon leg, before it tapers in at the ankle. The style features a mid-rise waist and offers a relaxed fit, which can be dressed up or down, depending on your style and the occasion. The trousers have been crafted from a cotton fabric blend, which makes this lightweight design comfortable, breathable, and gentle on the skin. We think the blend of materials is the secret to why customers claim Uniqlo's Jersey Barrel Leg Trousers do not crease. Uniqlo has paid extra attention to detail as it also boasts flap patch pockets at the back, as well as stitching detail to stand these trousers out in a sea of barrel leg designs. Pair with a tank top, t-shirt, cotton or linen shirt, even a dressy top for an evening. The trousers are ankle grazer length, which makes these perfect to style with trainers, loafers, ballet pumps, sandals or thong heels. This fashion staple will take you from day to night, the office to after work drinks, weekend brunches and everything in between. Uniqlo's trousers come in three colourways, including off-white, khaki green and navy blue, which are timeless and versatile tones you can wear all year long. With over 200 glowing reviews, and an average rating of 4.5 out of five stars, it's safe to say these trousers are a hit with shoppers. More Trending One customer, named Emmy, commented: 'I don't think I have had a pair of trousers fit me so well and they are super comfortable, I have plans to go back and get them in other colours.' A separate shopper added: 'Good quality fabric that doesn't crease easily. Good fit round the waist so flattering on the leg with the barrel shape. Impressed, so I bought it in another colour.' While Cecil's review read: 'I now have these in all 3 colours. They are well made, fit beautifully and are so comfortable. They are long but don't hit the floor if I'm wearing loafers.' Get them whilst you can! Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Share your views in the comments below MORE: Can the £15 Uniqlo Round Mini Shoulder Bag really handle a weekend trip away? MORE: Aligne's new denim collection is here – and it's all about fit, style and everyday cool MORE: Nobody's Child now has a whole page dedicated to dresses with pockets
New Paper
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New Paper
Cai fan merch label PointyRice calls out Uniqlo keychain's 'uncanny' likeness
Another small local brand is speaking up about Uniqlo Singapore's local food campaign. The Japanese retailer's UTme! Local Delights Collection, which consists of T-shirts featuring iconic Singaporean dishes, sparked buzz online recently for its resemblance to small local clothing brand Musoka Club's designs. The incident generated conversation about who owns the copyright to local food culture. Meanwhile, another player has entered the picture. Ms Caitanya "Cait" Tan is the founder and chief executive of local merchandise brand PointyRice. She has been fielding messages from followers about the similarities between her product and Uniqlo's gift-with-purchase, which she describes to The Straits Times as "too uncanny". As part of Uniqlo's Thank You Festival celebrations, which ran till May 29, customers who spent $100 and above in-store at Orchard Central and Jewel Changi Airport received a customisable Mixed Rice Keychain. And they could pick little acrylic "dishes" to fit inside a plate-shaped keychain. Uniqlo's customisable Mixed Rice Keychain, a gift-with-purchase as part of its Thank You Festival. PHOTOS: UNIQLO PointyRice ( currently retails stickers of mixed rice dishes that customers purchase individually to layer and customise onto a plate sticker. Dishes start at $2.50 a sticker, while a plate and rice are both priced at $2.50. When Uniqlo teased its Mixed Rice Keychain in May, followers asked Ms Tan if she was working with the Japanese retailer. She took to Instagram (@caitofalltraits) on May 19 to clear the air. It is the first retail brand started by the 38-year-old, whose many hats include being an actress, voiceover artist, host and director of boutique agency AllTraits, under which PointyRice operates. PointyRice founder Caitanya Tan at her pop-up cai fan stall in April. PHOTO: POINTYRICE She created PointyRice as a "lifelong Singaporean identity-building project" for locals to "celebrate hawker dishes we grew up with that don't get enough recognition". After conceptualising the brand in November 2024, she launched PointyRice on April 5 with a pop-up at Lyf Farrer Park. The set-up featured a table with trays of stickers portraying different types of cai fan dishes, which customers could choose to customise their "plates". Ms Tan and her team of three played hawkers serving their customers. She hired her cousin, a fellow actress, to act as a grumpy cai fan auntie - "to put the 'fun' in cai fan". A six-minute video she posted of the event garnered more than 200,000 views on Instagram and TikTok combined. She believes Uniqlo Singapore would have seen the video. "I cannot say they copied me, but the internet got mad for me. I've done a lot of research - I started with cai fan because no one had done the concept in this way, and I understand why now. It's not an easy project. It's extremely difficult to design each digital asset, then produce it as a physical product that people can customise themselves; and the ability to layer." Screenshots of comments on Uniqlo Singapore's Instagram account. PHOTOS: UNIQLOSG/INSTAGRAM She says she had reached out to Uniqlo Singapore a month before to collaborate, but did not hear back. She has worked with the brand on past campaigns in the capacity of a content creator. Within 40 minutes of her posting her May 19 video on Instagram, a representative from the brand reached out. Uniqlo denied taking inspiration from PointyRice or mimicking her designs. The brand also invited her to its Thank You Festival media event, and raised the possibility of a future collaboration. But it was "too coincidental", says Ms Tan. "I just wanted them to acknowledge it." She believes the biggest similarity was the store concept and layout. "It's not just cai fan, it's bringing cai fan to a physical experience. Effort went into the detailed designs, sourcing multiple failed samples and hand-cutting 28,000 stickers just to set up an experience that is now going to be considered by the masses as an imitation of Uniqlo's campaign. PointyRice's pop-up cai fan stall in April. PHOTO: POINTYRICE "A creative's currency is her creativity and ideas. It's not the keychain I'm sad about. It's the concept of the pop-up that I'd put research and finances into that hurt me the most." In response to queries from ST, a Uniqlo spokesperson says: "Uniqlo is aware of an ongoing conversation and values all perspectives shared. "As is our standard practice, Uniqlo commenced planning for its customisable mixed rice keychain several months prior to its launch through our Thank You Festival. This item is part of a global trend of customisable accessories and follows other customisable gift items created by Uniqlo in Singapore in previous years." The spokesperson adds that Uniqlo did not receive any collaboration proposals from local artists or illustrators related to the cai fan customisation. PointyRice's long-term plan is to produce merchandise, says Ms Tan, who is working on expanding her products to nasi padang and nasi kandar. Her ultimate vision is to have a physical space recreating a hawker centre, with stalls selling various delicacies in sticker form. She says: "People are going to say, 'How to IP cai fan? It's for everybody.' But a little credit wouldn't hurt anyone. We're all Singaporean."
Straits Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Cai fan merch label PointyRice calls out Uniqlo keychain's ‘uncanny' likeness
Uniqlo's customisable Mixed Rice Keychain, a gift-with-purchase as part of its Thank You Festival. PHOTO: UNIQLO SINGAPORE – More small local brands are speaking up about Uniqlo Singapore's local food campaign. The Japanese retailer's UTme! Local Delights Collection, which consists of T-shirts featuring iconic Singaporean dishes, sparked buzz online recently, for its resemblance to small local clothing brand Musoka Club's designs. The incident generated conversation about who owns the copyright to local food culture. Meanwhile, another player has entered the picture. Ms Caitanya 'Cait' Tan is the founder and chief executive of local merchandise brand PointyRice. She has been fielding messages from followers about the similarities between her product and Uniqlo's gift-with-purchase, which she describes to The Straits Times as 'too uncanny'. As part of Uniqlo's Thank You Festival celebrations, which ran till May 29, customers who spent $100 and above in-store at Orchard Central and Jewel Changi Airport received a customisable Mixed Rice Keychain. And they could pick little acrylic 'dishes' to fit inside a plate-shaped keychain. PointyRice ( currently retails stickers of mixed rice dishes that customers purchase individually to layer and customise onto a plate sticker. Dishes start at $2.50 a sticker, while a plate and rice are both priced at $2.50. Uniqlo's Mixed Rice Keychain gift-with-purchase. PHOTO: UNIQLO When Uniqlo teased its Mixed Rice Keychain in May, followers asked Ms Tan if she was working with the Japanese retailer. She took to Instagram (@caitofalltraits) on May 19 to clear the air. It is the first retail brand started by the 38-year-old, whose many hats include being an actress, voice-over artist, host and director of boutique agency AllTraits , under which PointyRice operates. She created Pointy Rice as a 'lifelong Singaporean identity-building project' for locals to 'celebrate hawker dishes we grew up with that don't get enough recognition'. After conceptualising the brand in November 2024, she launched PointyRice on April 5 with a pop-up at Lyf Farrer Park. The set-up featured a table with trays of stickers portraying different types of cai fan dishes, which customers could choose to customise their 'plates'. Ms Tan and her team of three played hawkers serving their customers. She hired her cousin, a fellow actress, to act as a grumpy cai fan auntie – 'to put the 'fun' in cai fan'. A six-minute video she posted of the event garnered more than 200,000 views on Instagram and TikTok combined. She believes Uniqlo Singapore would have seen the video. 'I cannot say they copied me, but the internet got mad for me. I've done a lot of research – I started with cai fan because no one had done the concept in this way, and I understand why now. It's not an easy project. It's extremely difficult to design each digital asset, then produce it as a physical product that people can customise themselves; and the ability to layer.' Screenshot of comments on Uniqlo Singapore's Instagram account. PHOTO: UNIQLOSG/INSTAGRAM Screenshot of comments on Uniqlo Singapore's Instagram account. PHOTO: UNIQLOSG/INSTAGRAM She says she had reached out to Uniqlo Singapore a month before to collaborate, but did not hear back. She has worked with the brand on past campaigns in the capacity of a content creator. Within 40 minutes of her posting her May 19 video on Instagram, a representative from the brand reached out. Uniqlo denied taking inspiration from PointyRice or mimicking her designs. The brand also invited her to its Thank You Festival media event, and raised the possibility of a future collaboration. But it was 'too coincidental', says Ms Tan. 'I just wanted them to acknowledge it.' She believes the biggest similarity was the store concept and layout. 'It's not just cai fan, it's bringing cai fan to a physical experience. Effort went into the detailed designs, sourcing multiple failed samples and hand-cutting 28,000 stickers just to set up an experience that is now going to be considered by the masses as an imitation of Uniqlo's campaign. 'A creative's currency is her creativity and ideas. It's not the keychain I'm sad about. It's the concept of the pop-up that I'd put research and finances into that hurt me the most.' PointyRice's pop-up stall in April, featuring cai fan 'dishes' customers could use to customise their orders. (*PLS COLLAGE w/ pic below) PHOTO: POINTYRICE Uniqlo Singapore's Mixed Rice Keychain cai fan stall concept at Ion Orchard. ST PHOTO: AMANDA CHAI In response to queries from ST, a Uniqlo spokesperson says: 'Uniqlo is aware of an ongoing conversation, and values all perspectives shared. 'As is our standard practice, Uniqlo commenced planning for its customisable mixed rice keychain several months prior to its launch through our Thank You Festival. This item is part of a global trend of customisable accessories, and follows other customisable gift items created by Uniqlo in Singapore in previous years.' The spokesperson adds that Uniqlo did not receive any collaboration proposals from local artists or illustrators related to the cai fan customisation. PointyRice's long-term plan is to produce merchandise, says Ms Tan, who is working on expanding her products to nasi padang and nasi kandar. Her ultimate vision is to have a physical space recreating a hawker centre, with stalls selling various delicacies in sticker form. She says: 'People are going to say, 'How to IP cai fan? It's for everybody.' But a little credit wouldn't hurt anyone. We're all Singaporean.' Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
Uniqlo's local food tees draw buzz for looking ‘eerily similar' to Singapore brand Musoka Club, Lifestyle News
SINGAPORE — Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo's latest campaign spotlighting Singapore's food heritage is getting buzz — but not for the right reasons. Its new UTme! Local Delights Collection, a limited series of T-shirts released on last Friday (May 23) as part of the brand's annual Thank You Festival, has drawn comparisons online to small local clothing brand Musoka Club ( Uniqlo's series features designs inspired by iconic local dishes in five prints depicting kaya toast, chilli crab, chicken rice, laksa and bak kut teh. The shirts, priced at $29.90 each, were designed in collaboration with local artists Tiffany Lovage and Kenneth Seow. They are sold only at selected Uniqlo stores, including in Orchard Central and Jewel Changi Airport. They caught the attention of Musoka Club's founder, who wishes to be known only as Ms Elaine, a week ago when Uniqlo started teasing its series on Instagram. She began receiving messages from customers asking if the series was Musoka Club's collaboration with Uniqlo. Some followers left comments on Uniqlo Singapore's Instagram, saying the designs look 'eerily similar' and remarking that 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but copying without credit is not — please respect original work'. Musoka Club's Dress Code: Kopitiam Series collection was launched in July 2023 for Singapore's 58th birthday, and featured the same five local dishes as well as a sixth, nasi lemak. The T-shirts are priced at $59 each. Ms Elaine tells The Straits Times that the resemblance was 'too similar' for her to stay silent. Apart from the choice of dishes, she cites specific design elements including centralised food illustrations, use of descriptive arrows for each ingredient, retro-styled food titles and short descriptions at the bottom of the T-shirt as uncanny similarities. The 29-year-old, who founded Musoka Club in 2020, says: 'At first, we didn't dare to reply or even like the comments because we didn't want to come off as saying Uniqlo copied us. But the similarities were so big that people started assuming it was a collaboration.' As the post gained traction, she dug deeper and found that Mr Seow follows Musoka Club on Instagram. 'It's been both heartwarming and painful to watch the public speak up on our behalf while we remained quiet,' she adds. Started as a side hustle during the Covid-19 pandemic, Musoka Club is today run by a team of three, including a part-time illustrator. Its Kaya Toast Club shirt began as a joke, but became its most successful launch and is the design most new customers start with. The label has since collaborated with companies including Starbucks, Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks and Sapporo to create merchandise T-shirts. Acknowledging that it is hard to claim ownership on design inspiration, Ms Elaine says: 'We know no one owns Singapore's food culture — it belongs to all of us. But when a bigger brand puts out something so visually close to ours, it feels like watching your proudest work get mistaken for someone else's." She had let slide other instances in the past when smaller brands or university committees designed T-shirts in a similar style. On one occasion, she received backlash for issuing a statement against a new brand whose similar shirts had caused confusion among fans, which left her 'burned' and wary about speaking out again. 'We understand that it could be a style that's similar in inspiration. But 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. We wanted to show that we didn't copy someone else.' As Musoka Club does not have loud branding on its shirts, 'it's easy for our customers to be misled to thinking it's an extension of our collection that we did some time back', she adds, expressing concern that Uniqlo's lower prices may lead people to think that hers are not worth paying for. 'And because they're a global brand, they'll always reach a wider audience first.' In response to queries from ST, a spokesperson for Uniqlo Singapore says in a statement: 'We are aware of the recent conversations surrounding this initiative. We respect the dialogue it has sparked and remain committed to fostering open, thoughtful engagement within our creative community.' The spokesperson adds: 'Uniqlo has proudly supported local since 2009, with a deep commitment to connecting meaningfully with our community. Our latest UTme! Local Delights Collection was created in celebration of Singapore's vibrant food culture, together with home-grown artists and beloved local food brands. 'Food has long been part of our cultural storytelling. For example, in 2017 and 2020, we also highlighted local favourites such as chicken rice, laksa, nasi lemak, kaya toast and kopi and hotpot in our UTme! collection, as a tribute to everyday Singaporean experiences.' Ms Elaine emphasises that her intention is not to level accusations of copyright infringement against Uniqlo, but to safeguard Musoka Club's future. 'Once a design is mass-produced by a global brand, the design will feel expired. We can't use it again without feeling like we copied them. We have plans to launch other food series using the same template. But now, the first impression people – especially Uniqlo's customers – will get would be that we're jumping onto the trend. 'To us, it's not just a design because it's our No. 1 bestseller; it's our identity. It feels like we lost that special thing we used to have.' [[nid:718421]] This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
Wales Online
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Boden top with detail that makes it a 'bit special' now 30% off
Boden top with detail that makes it a 'bit special' now 30% off The Smocked Cuff Supersoft Top was £36 but is now £25.20, offering a £10.80 save for Boden shoppers The top is currently available in UK sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 (Image: Boden ) A top from Boden which has a detail that makes it a "bit special" according to customers, is now 30% off. The Smocked Cuff Supersoft Top was £36 but is now £25.20, offering a £10.80 save for Boden shoppers. The top is currently available in UK sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22. The item of clothing, which comes in a Tickled Pink colour, but also comes in Rich Emerald, Black, White and Navy colours but for different prices, comes with long sleeves and smocked cuffs. From superstar gigs to cosy pubs, find out What's On in Wales by signing up to our newsletter here . The top is made out of 50% cotton and 50% TENCEL ™ Modal, it has a slim fit and is designed to fall just above the hip. READ MORE: Next's 'classy but relaxed' summer dress now 25% off ALSO: Boden's 'beautifully soft' cashmere jumper now over £50 cheaper with just hours to go on huge sale The clothing is also machine washable, making it easy to care and maintain. Shoppers could style this light top under a knitted tank or wear it on its own tucked into high-rise jeans. The top has received around 4.5 out of five stars on Boden's website, based on 104 reviews. "Gorgeous many compliments," one customer reviewed. The clothing, which comes in a Tickled Pink colour, but also comes in Rich Emerald, Black, White and Navy colours but for different prices, comes with long sleeves and smocked cuffs (Image: Boden ) Another said: "Lovely fit, hangs well. Nice sleeves. Excellence quality cotton. Love the colour." While another shopper had this to say: "As described this is super soft and the cuffed detail makes it just that bit special. Love how it fits not tight but not baggy. I bought a 10 which is my usual size". However, not everyone was happy with their purchase. One customer claimed that the top's fit wasn't right for them. They said: "This a nice design and material. But the sizing is way off. I am either a roomy 14 or a 16. "I bought a 16 but it was far far too small. It could have been a size 12". If you want a light jumper that can be worn during the summer months, Next has plenty of options, such as the Orange Neutral Square Crochet Long Sleeve Open Neck Jumper with Cotton, which is sold for £39. Article continues below Alternatively, if you want a knitwear with shorter sleeves, you could purchase Uniqlo's Cotton Pointelle Polo Jumper (Short Sleeve) for £29.90.
