Uniqlo elevates its T-shirt’s popularity as Singapore’s ‘national uniform’

The new T-shirt colors, orange, red and dark green, were released last month at Uniqlo stores across the city-state, advertised as “The SG uniform”.

This move indicated that the Japanese retailer is embracing the product’s ubiquity in the nation, especially among Singaporean men.

The brand’s Singaporean website also listed the product as an “essential” fashion item, with one unit being sold almost every minute in the city-state from October 2022 to September 2023.

Due to its prevalence, the “SG uniform” has often been a topic of discussion on social media, where Singaporean men’s basic outfit – the Uniqlo T-shirt, a pair of shorts and slippers – is often ridiculed.

Notably, one viral video by TikTok user Sherrgoh, showing a man buying the same t-shirt in several different shades and captioned ‘SG boys shopping for their uniform in new colors,’ has gained over 1.6 million views.

According to those who favor the oversized T-shirt, Uniqlo’s biggest appeal is its convenience.

“I think that there are many other brands on the market that are of a similar price bracket and quality, like Muji, but Uniqlo makes it convenient to get the same piece of clothing that you know fits you well repeatedly or in different colors,” Raffli Noor, 39.

Meanwhile, others have said that the item is both comfortable and low-key, not standing out and attracting unwanted attention.

Singapore boasts 30 Uniqlo outlets and the highest density of Uniqlo stores outside of Japan, with approximately one store for every 189,000 people.

The new colors for the AIRism T-shirt are not the brand’s first Singapore-exclusive release, as it had previously introduced several products inspired by Singaporean literature in collaboration with the city-state’s National Library Board in March.