Jil Sander, Lemaire, EG: UNIQLO's Best Collabs Are (Briefly) Back
UNIQLO quietly turned 40 in 2024 and, as its birthday gift to you, it's bringing back three of its best collaborations: Jil Sander, Lemaire, and Engineered Garments.
Oh, yeah, did you know UNIQLO was 40 years old?
Technically, UNIQLO is actually quite a bit older, having been founded over 75 years ago as a totally separate company, but UNIQLO as we know it was established when Unique Clothing Warehouse opened its doors in 1984.
Today's UNIQLO is fueled by high-power fashion collaborations, which grant its humble wares an aura of excellence. So, UNIQLO's decision to revive three particularly potent designer partnerships is a canny one.
UNIQLO and Lemaire is arguably the single most important fashion collab in the retailer's history, having launched in 2015 prior to Lemaire established his dedicated UNIQLO U label. This is where it all began: The handsome neutral tones and understated luxuriousness that eventually came to epitomize the progressive aims of U, which in turn frequently shapes the ethos of mainline UNIQLO.
UNIQLO and Jil Sander was also kinda huge because it was both an early example of UNIQLO's partnering prowess — Sander's +J UNIQLO line began in 2009, long before the high-low team-up was commonplace — and because its most recent iterations epitomize UNIQLO and Sander's innate grasp of the minimalist design cues that have come to epitomize luxury in the wake of the quiet luxury boom.
+J, which rolled out in 2011, 2015, and in the early 2020s, is the first dedicated fashion endeavor from Sander since she stepped back from the industry in the early '10s. Very much a big deal.
And UNIQLO x Engineered Garments is simply a case study in UNIQLO genius. Bring on a reliable maker of uncomplicatedly excellent garments to produce a winter fleece and let the results speak for themselves. The UNIQLO x EG fleece of Fall/Winter 2019 was one of the year's biggest menswear launches, so good and so vital that it spurred a follow-up in 2023.
UNIQLO's +J Jil Sander, Lemaire, and Engineered Garments 40th anniversary collaborations arrive in Japan for limited release from December 20, with an international drop likely to either coincide or follow shortly thereafter.
If ever anyone needed additional proof that UNIQLO is punching way above its weight class look no further than UNIQLO following its soon-to-sell-out CPFM x Spongebob merch with a trio of big-time designer reunions.
