Uniqlo's Quality Shift: What to Skip and What Still Works
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Last year, Uniqlo sold a stunning trench coat for $130. It was 100% cotton with proper construction details. This year's version costs $150 and it's 100% polyester – without any claims of water resistance, for which polyester does have legitimate applications.
The trench coat isn't an isolated case. When Uniqlo's +J collaboration with Jil Sander ran from 2020-2021, it included tailored pants in wool-cashmere blends priced at $90-130.
Uniqlo's 2015 collab with Lemaire featured a pair of gaucho pants in 90% wool, 10% cashmere. It retailed for $60, or about $82 today. A skirt in the same blend was $90 then or about $123 now.
LemaireGaucho pants; Jil Sander slim pants, gaucho pants, gaucho pant detail; current Smart Ankle Pants
The current Clare Waight Keller collaboration offers outerwear in polyester, but no tailored pants at all. JW Anderson's collection will offer a 100% polyester blazer later this month – and no tailored pants. No collab has them. What's missing from designer collections tells you as much as what's included.
Trousers in the main line don't pick up this slack, either. They're $50 and about 2/3 polyester.
Is Uniqlo coasting on past performance? Are they merely moving to meet the customers where they are? While these topics are debated online, here's a practical guide to locate their gems: what to skip, what still delivers, and how to tell the difference.
The Polyester Problem: What to Skip
The Tailored Jacket ($130)
This blazer comes from the Clare Waight Keller collaboration. Keller is a masterful designer who headed Givenchy and Chloé, so let's compare a similar blazer from Givenchy during her tenure. Look where the sleeve meets the shoulder: in the Uniqlo version, you can see the outline of the shoulder pad through the fabric. Givenchy's blazer remains smooth. Run your eyes along the lapel edge and you'll spot the seam allowance creating a visible ridge, while Givenchy's appears flat.
Shoulder pad's edge is visible at the top of the shoulder; seam allowance ridge visible along the lapel seam (look above the stitch)
The fabric composition belies the compelling studio shots: 83% polyester with 15% rayon and 2% spandex. The lining is 100% polyester. A designer name and elevated images do not overcome fundamental production choices.
The "Smart" Pants
Uniqlo markets these trousers as dress pants. The Smart Wide Pants are 66% polyester. The Smart Ankle Pants are 64% polyester. Both use recycled polyester fiber, which may be commendable for environmental goals but doesn't change how the fabric performs.
Polyester in tailored pants creates specific issues: the fabric doesn't breathe, it drapes in artificially perfect blobby curves, and it's prone to pilling.
The Mini Cable Sweater ($50)
This sweater has the unmistakable plasticky surface that acrylic creates. The composition is 51% acrylic, 27% polyester, and 22% cotton. The acrylic majority means the sweater won't age well – it'll pill and matte instead of softening like wool, cotton, linen, or cashmere. Natural fibers develop character as they age. Acrylic starts bad and just gets progressively worse.
51% acrylic sweater; plasticky sheen up close