Uniqlo's local food tees draw buzz for looking 'eerily similar' to Singapore brand Musoka Club

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 (musokaclub.com).

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.”

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.