If you really think about it, Uniqlo is kinda like the Toyota of fashion. Both Japanese brands emphasize high quality at reasonable prices, and have fan bases that vehemently swear by their products.
Despite being founded in the 1940s, Uniqlo wasn’t really a household name until the 2010s through the rise of streetwear and its high-profile designer collabs. Now, they’re stepping back to honor an automotive brand that they can certainly identify with.
More Than a Fan Moment
The connection runs deeper than two big Japanese brands shaking hands. Uniqlo has long been credited with adapting Toyota’s Just-in-Time manufacturing principles to its own supply chain — analyzing weekly sales data to produce and deliver inventory precisely when and where it’s needed. So when Uniqlo says this collection is a tribute, they’re not just talking about the cars.
The UT line itself has been Uniqlo’s cultural playground since 2003, when it launched as a simple graphic tee project rooted in Japanese pop culture. By 2007, creative director Kashiwa Sato formalized it into the “UT” brand, complete with its now-iconic Harajuku flagship. Since then, it’s collaborated with everyone from Warhol to Nintendo to Marvel — always at that same accessible price point that keeps the barrier to entry low and the volume high.
The Collection
Artist Kosuke Kawamura — a frequent UT collaborator and the same creative mind behind the brand’s 20th anniversary archive project — designed all four graphics here, and his signature bold, technical aesthetic does the cars real justice.
The Land Cruiser tee is the obvious anchor of the group. Running continuously since 1951, the FJ’s legacy basically sells itself, and Kawamura’s rendering leans into its workhorse identity with a black-and-white image of the SUV crawling over rocks. Meanwhile, the Corolla — the world’s best-selling nameplate with 50+ million units moved across 12 generations — lands on a black tee that feels appropriately sleek for a car that spent decades being underestimated. The image on the back of the tee looks like an old magazine ad, with the words, “FIVE SEAT SEDAN 1966,” down below.
The Toyota 2000GT is probably the most interesting shirt in the bunch: a gray tee with engineering-drawing-style artwork nodding to the 1967 coupe that essentially put Japan on the global performance map. Only ~337 were ever built, and one famously appeared in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice. The illustration rewards anyone who gets close enough to read it with an homage to the car below a sketch of it. And then there’s the Hiace, the forward-control delivery van introduced in 1969 that became a global institution everywhere except the U.S. — a cult pick for the people who know and the de facto black sheep of this collection.
Spec Sheet
Collection: Toyota x Uniqlo UT Graphic T-Shirt
Models Featured: Land Cruiser, Corolla, Toyota 2000GT, Hiace
Fit: Relaxed
Material: 100% Cotton
Sizes: XXS–3XL
Graphics Designer: Kosuke Kawamura
Price: $30 each
Limited Edition: No stated limit
Pricing & Availability
The Toyota x Uniqlo UT Collection drops online and in stores on April 13. Each tee runs $30, making it easy to grab all four.
Recap
Uniqlo x Toyota UT Graphic Tee Collection
Uniqlo’s UT line is teaming up with Toyota for a four-piece graphic tee collection dropping April 13th, with each shirt spotlighting one of the automaker’s most iconic models — the Land Cruiser, Corolla, 2000GT, and Hiace — all designed by artist Kosuke Kawamura and priced at $30 a pop.
