When Uniqlo's UT series also uses AI design

At first, A Mo didn't notice the collaboration between Uniqlo and Oriental Kopi until a message from a friend caught his attention.

"I spotted right away that these were AI-generated," A Mo, an illustrator from Malaysia who usually draws comics about daily interesting things and funny experiences and posts them on Xiaohongshu, pointed at the prints on the collaborative T-shirts and told 36Kr. "People in our industry can be 100% sure. The characteristics are too obvious."

Netizens pointed out that the Uniqlo X Oriental Kopi collaboration was suspected of AI creation | Image source: Official website of Oriental Kopi

Oriental Kopi is a Malaysian chain catering brand that specializes in Nanyang-style meals and morning teas and enjoys a high reputation in the local Chinese community. According to the brand's official website, the collaborative series with Uniqlo includes five T-shirts and two canvas bags. The products are printed with cartoon images of foods such as ice-fire pineapple buns, coffee, and egg tarts, as well as the exterior of Oriental Kopi's old store and the words "Let’s go Kopitiam."

It is these food illustrations full of Nanyang charm that have been questioned as AI-generated works. Many illustrators we interviewed pointed out that these patterns have problems such as "incomplete images," "misaligned structures," and "blurred lines," which are almost the most common mistakes in AI painting.

Anis, a local illustrator from Johor, told us that these works were not even created by advanced AI tools but were more like the products of free AI software. "Wasn't it popular to turn photos into cartoon styles a while ago? The style of this set of patterns is exactly the same as those AI works at that time." She also found the possible prototypes of these patterns - the photos of the dishes on Oriental Kopi's official menu. The composition and elements of the two are highly similar, and it really seems like the result of directly "AI-izing" the photos.

Comparison between the images of the Uniqlo and Oriental Kopi collaboration and the real photos of "Three Treasures of Oriental Kopi"

Cloakwork, a graffiti artist from Kuala Lumpur, told us that after learning about this incident, many of his fellow artists around him were "very angry." In their view, "there are so many local artists who can't get jobs." Both Uniqlo and Oriental Kopi are well-known brands, and the post-90s generation, including Cloakwork, almost "grew up eating at Oriental Kopi." Therefore, this incident not only shocked them but also disappointed them greatly.

It is understood that the collaborative series was launched last Friday in the form of Uniqlo's UTme customization series. UTme is a T-shirt customization service launched by Uniqlo. In addition to purchasing ready-made styles, consumers can also print self-selected patterns on T-shirts through inkjet printing technology. The finished products can be picked up offline or delivered to home through the UTme official APP.

Image source: Official Instagram of Oriental Kopi

Uniqlo has never publicly disclosed the specific revenue of its UT and UTme series, but UT has always been an important carrier for its localization strategy, frequently collaborating with local artists, IP owners, illustrators, museums, and other institutions.

36Kr previously learned from Uniqlo that all the patterns in the UTme gallery have official copyrights. In some large stores in regional cities, a certain proportion of the works are also created by local artists. During the interview, some illustrators revealed that Uniqlo had also collaborated with local creators in Malaysia in the past, and no similar disputes had occurred. They believe that the root of the problem may lie with Oriental Kopi.

As we know, in Malaysia, the quotation for similar commercial illustrations usually ranges from 20 to 250 Malaysian ringgit per piece (approximately 30 - 421 RMB), depending on the illustrator's experience and popularity. If the brand is well-known, the price can sometimes even reach around 200 Malaysian ringgit. In the view of illustrator Anis, this cost is "by no means an unaffordable expense" for a company of Uniqlo's scale, and the brand "has no reason and no need" to acquiesce in the use of AI-generated works.

"I guess Oriental Kopi took the easy way out and directly used AI to generate these patterns, and Uniqlo, as the partner, didn't do a good job in the review process," Anis said.

However, even if it is just a mistake in the review process, it is still a brand crisis that cannot be ignored for Uniqlo. Uniqlo formulated a "southward expansion" strategy before the pandemic, regarding Southeast Asia as a key market. The population structure in this region is young, and the economic growth rate is fast. Uniqlo's business in the local area has also recovered rapidly after the pandemic, achieving double growth in revenue and profit for multiple consecutive quarters.

A Uniqlo store in Kuala Lumpur

According to statistics, as of the third quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, Uniqlo had a total of 61 stores in Malaysia, ranking fourth in Southeast Asia, only after Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. According to the 2024 fiscal year report of Fast Retailing Group, the Southeast Asian market (including India and Oceania) contributed approximately 31% of its overseas revenue, with annual sales exceeding 540.5 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 24.8%. It is one of the fastest-growing regions for Uniqlo globally.

This "AI illustration storm" has exposed the potential hidden dangers that Uniqlo may face in the process of rapid localization: on the one hand, there is insufficient control over the quality of the collaborative content; on the other hand, there is a lack of attention to the emotions of the local community and the rights and interests of creators. From a deeper perspective, this incident also reflects the common "efficiency first" thinking of global brands in the process of localization. With the popularization of AIGC technology, more and more enterprises tend to use AI to reduce content production costs and speed up the product launch rhythm.

In markets with high cultural sensitivity, such an approach often backfires - consumers not only expect the products to be "produced locally" but also hope that the brand can "create for the local area" and truly understand and respect the local culture and creative ecosystem.

"This is not a problem with technology but an issue of attitude," A Mo added. "We can accept AI as a tool, but we cannot accept it replacing human creation and human expression, and we definitely cannot accept big brands using AI to perfunctorily deal with our proud food culture."

Similar disputes are not isolated cases. Not long ago, H&M announced that it would use AI models for the first time to shoot brand advertisements. Although H&M paid authorization fees to the real-life prototypes and displayed the real people and their AI "twins" side by side in the final works, it still sparked protests from the model and photographer communities. The tea brand Dongfang Shuye under Nongfu Spring also once caused a large-scale backlash from netizens for using AI to create subway advertisements.

H&M's advertisement featuring both AI and real models side by side once caused controversy

These cases do not involve the product design level. In fact, most fashion companies are very cautious about using AIGC to design products. "Although more and more enterprises or companies are intentionally or unintentionally challenging that bottom line," Eiden, who is engaged in brand consulting work in Kuala Lumpur, told 36Kr. He believes that from the perspective of brand management, if these designs are really AI-generated, the legitimacy of the brand will be questioned at the level of commercialization and sales.

"After all, in addition to the raw material cost of the clothes themselves, the most core value of clothing design lies in the added value brought by creativity and manual design. If this part is generated by AI, then the part of the selling price regarded as the 'creative result' actually becomes a gray area. 'Who exactly is the buyer paying for the creation?'"

As of now, neither Uniqlo nor Oriental Kopi has made a public response to this controversy. The collaborative series is still being sold normally online and offline, but topics such as "#SupportLocalArtists" and "#NoToAICulture" have started to appear on social media, and more Malaysian consumers are calling on the brands to face up to the problem and respond to their demands.

For Uniqlo, this trouble may not be significant, but it is enough to serve as a warning: on the road to entering emerging markets, true localization is not just about opening stores and launching collaborations. It is also about establishing a sincere and trustworthy connection with the culture and people in this land. In today's era when AI can easily generate images, such a connection still has to be drawn by "people" themselves.