Uniqlo may be part of the Fast Retailing group, but don’t let the name fool you. “It is a common misperception, but Uniqlo is not fast fashion,” declares Tadashi Yanai, the founder and CEO of Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent company. “We do not make throwaway clothes. We make clothes that transcend the times and can be worn year after year. In short, we make clothes that are timeless.”
Yanai’s remarks echoed through the halls of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where global media, collaborators, and friends of the brand from around the world gathered. A longstanding partner of the museum, Uniqlo chose MoMA as the backdrop to celebrate the 2025 edition of the annual LifeWear Day event, titled The Art and Science of LifeWear.
Held in the midst of New York Fashion Week, the occasion also marks the 20th anniversary of Uniqlo opening its first U.S. store in 2005. Besides Yanai himself, other guests included John Jay, Fast Retailing’s president of global creative, Clare Waight Keller, Uniqlo’s creative director, and global ambassador Roger Federer.
The evening spotlighted the technology and partnerships that anchor the LifeWear philosophy—with a few surprises in tow. Among them: the newly appointed global brand ambassador Cate Blanchett, who joined Waight Keller and Federer in a panel discussion, while contemporary artist Kaws announced his role as Uniqlo’s first-ever Artist in Residence.
For the unacquainted, LifeWear is Uniqlo’s design manifesto, where clothing is viewed not as a statement, but as a service, designed to quietly improve life, day by day.
That philosophy materialised in the one-night-only exhibition at MoMA. Instead of paintings, guests encountered fabric installations, modular displays, and interactive demonstrations that revealed the functionality, versatility, and understated elegance of LifeWear.
We journeyed through three key pillars of LifeWear. Technology for All highlighted Uniqlo’s collaboration with Toray, featuring interactive displays that revealed the science behind innovations like HeatTech, Airism, and PuffTech. Toray, Uniqlo’s longtime material partner, lent its expertise—spanning aerospace to pharmaceuticals—to bring these innovations to life.
Then there’s Art for All, celebrating Uniqlo’s partnership with MoMA; and Heart for All, underscoring the brand’s commitment to improving lives globally. For a brand built on simplicity, the experience was definitely quietly theatrical.
As we moved through the exhibits, Yanai’s words echoed in my mind: “Clothes are a basic necessity in life for everyone, everywhere in the world. I believe we all have the right to wear clothing that is meticulously designed and manufactured with high-quality materials.” Experiencing the garments firsthand, it became obvious that this philosophy is not just corporate rhetoric—it’s tangible in every stitch, seam, and fabric choice.
This is what Yanai terms the ‘democratisation of clothing.’ “To make it a reality, we offer superior quality at affordable prices worldwide. In changing clothing, we look to change people’s everyday lives, and ultimately, to change the world.”
Yanai speaks with the conviction of someone who genuinely believes in the moral weight of good design. Listening to him, I realised that LifeWear isn’t just a marketing term for him—it’s a worldview, stitched into every Uniqlo offering. He adds: “Transcending nationality, age, vocation, and gender, our clothes are created for everyone. LifeWear makes no compromises on quality. It has a practical sense of beauty, is simple yet elegant, and pays meticulous attention to detail. Designed to be mixed, matched, and personalised, LifeWear is the ultimate everyday clothing—available to people everywhere.”
That idea of universality is one that Waight Keller, Uniqlo’s creative director, also embraces. During an intimate roundtable the next day, she echoed the same principle—that design should adapt to the rhythms of real life. “Working in Asia has been a learning curve for me because each region is unique—climate, culture, and lifestyle vary enormously. Thailand, for example, is completely different from Japan, which is completely different from Singapore,” she shares.
For Waight Keller, it has been “a really interesting journey to understand these regional differences.” “Each region has something very specific to offer, and we design pieces that reflect that. Southeast Asia is one of our biggest and fastest-growing markets, which is really exciting. I’m planning a trip there soon—it’d be incredible to see the growth.”
Her enthusiasm for the Southeast Asia market is palpable, though the combination of climate, culture, and rapid growth really keeps her on her toes. The climates alone, she says, are enough to make a designer rethink everything from fit to fabric (a truth we know all too well for those of us living in Singapore’s humidity). “The climate differences are enormous, and the challenges of living in humidity, heat, and the ever-changing climate are real.”
Technology like Airism, she notes, remains a game-changer in such climates. But Waight Keller also champions natural fibers. “Many of the natural fibers we use are highly sustainable, and they provide the best breathability. I’m trying to balance Uniqlo’s technological innovations with these heritage fabrics, and together, they create solutions especially suited for the Asian market.”
Inclusivity, for her, is a matter of design integrity. “We’re very conscious of diversity, including size,” she notes. On cultural diversity, she adds: “We also produce a collection for the Muslim market, specifically designed for that region. With scarves, abayas, and all the necessary details, we spent months with local teams to get the right measurements and coverage. Pieces are designed to work together, colour-coordinated, so you can create an entire look with cultural consideration. It feels like part of everyday life, is easy to care for, and remains functional and breathable.”
Appointed Uniqlo’s creative director in September 2024, a year after she debuted her viral Uniqlo: C collection, Waight Keller previously led luxury houses including Givenchy and Chloé. Her remit spans Uniqlo’s mainline collections as well as continuing her personal collection Uniqlo:C, something she deems as more of an experimental incubator that allows her to play freely with proportion, texture, and structure.
“Uniqlo:C is a total expression of me,” Waight Keller explains when probed on the difference between working on the collections. “It’s my identity funneled into a collection where I can experiment with volume, fabrics, and finishes. The mainline collection distills these ideas into globally wearable garments that are functional, simple, and stylish.”
Coming from luxury, where the runway is often the only message, she now focuses on how people actually move through the world. “It’s about utility, comfort, and expression.”
And indeed, there I was, dressed head to toe in Uniqlo, realising that perhaps the brand’s genius lies in exactly that—making you forget you’re wearing it at all. The clothes don’t demand a spotlight; they just quietly, persistently, make life work a little better.
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The post From the Runway to Everyday: How Clare Waight Keller Is Shaping Uniqlo’s Timeless, Thoughtful Fashion appeared first on Grazia Singapore.
