UNIQLO｜LifeWear Story 100 directed by Yataro Matsuura

It was a beautiful clear day, that morning.
I picked up the phone to call Asha in Ethiopia from NY.

“I’m sorry…so sorry, I really am that I couldn’t keep our promise.”

Asha apologized to me so many times over the phone.

“There is nothing for you to apologize about. I would’ve done exactly the same thing if that was me. You had to prioritize your family then. It must have been so difficult for you, Asha. I’m sorry you had to go through it…”

“Thank you but I really did want to see you then but…”

I haven’t seen Asha for five years but her voice, her breathing, her choice of words, they were all just as I remembered.

“Oh definitely, I want to see you, too. You know, it’s such a relief to hear your voice.”

“I want to see you but I’m also kind of embarrassed. Maybe I changed a bit, you know. But there is so much I want to tell you. But most importantly, how have you been? How’s work going?”

“I’m doing great and work is going well, too. Nothing to worry about.”

Asha said that she wanted to sit down with me and tell me about her time in Paris, her mother, her family, her feelings now, and about what she is looking for in the future.

“What I want to tell you the most about is my family,” she said and about the untold story about the family her mom revealed before she passed away just recently.

“When do you think you can come to NY?,” I asked.
“I think I can be there in two weeks,” she replied.

“When I get there, there’s something I want to buy. Socks.”

Asha said laughing.

“I can’t find any socks I like in Ethiopia. I thought I can buy new pairs when I got home so I left all my socks in Paris.”

I recalled how Asha would always have a fresh-looking pair. You can tell she loved her white socks.

When I asked her about it one time, she said it was her mom that always said, “If you are a girl, you should always wear a clean pair of socks.” This is why Asha took great care and attentively washed her pairs so that they would look fresh and clean all the time.

She would often say, “You feel a bit of an uplift when you wear a fresh pair of socks.”

“I’m going to buy lots of white pair of socks that come up to my ankles.”

“But what I really want to do is to see you as soon as possible,” said Asha.

These are the low-cut socks designed with a mission to take out the stress of recovering the heels again and again. The non-slip grip in the heels have been changed from silicone to a stretchable polyolefin to boost the grip. The 3-line design has been combined to a tape-form, too.

We’ve also put in reinforced yarns that give more rounded and roomier shape. The non-slip support has been added to the instep along with purposely knitted material for the soles for durability and reduced tightness for the toes.

Speaking to Asha about socks brought me back to this one incident from our my childhood.

It was the entrance ceremony at my primary school. My parents had bought me a brand-new set of clothes, socks, and shoes.

The socks they had bought for me up to that point all had colors and designs. A white pair wouldn’t even be an option as they would never stay white with kids.

For me, white socks were something I dreamed about. On the morning of the ceremony, I woke up earlier than usual because I wanted to put those white pair on.

The white pair of socks just glowed, so pristine. I put my foot into them, one by one, and put on my short navy trousers for the ceremony. For my top, I put on the white crewneck sweater and the navy jacket that went with the trousers.

When I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt like those white pair made me look like a completely different person.
“This is really cool! Like those kids who are on TV,” I muttered to myself.

I wanted to show myself off so I stepped out of the house to find my neighborhood friends and their siblings playing about on the street.

“Wow, you look awesome, really different, in your white socks and all.” As soon as they saw me, they had comments, almost teasingly.

I came back with, “It’s my entrance ceremony so that’s why I’m in these white socks.”
“That’s not true, you can go in a black pair, too,”
replied my friend and pulled on the ribbed part of my brand new pair.

“Don’t, you are stretching it out,” I said and pushed him back. Seeing our exchange, his elder brother came into the mix and pushed me back.

I only scraped my knee when I fell down but what I was really worried about was whether I had dirtied my white socks. I looked and found that it had stretched out where my friend had pulled.

I was furious at him for ruining the white pair that my parents had bought for me for this special occasion so I jumped at him and pulled his clothes left and right.

Of course, his elder brother came into the mix and threw me to the ground and pulled the socks that I was wearing and threw them into the front yard of a neighbor. Then came their dog who picked up the socks in his mouth and ran to the back of the house.

In barefeet and completely distraught, I went back to the house wailing. “What in the world are you doing?,” my mom came to me in a frown. Seeing that I didn’t have any socks on, she asked what I had done with them.

Being so guilt-stricken that they had been taken away after a fight with a friend, I sternly said, “I’ll go to school without them.”

In the end, we couldn’t find the white pair so I went to school with my usual pair with designs.

There is still a picture of me and my mother right before the ceremony we took in front of the house. My eyes are shut as I could not stop crying.

The greatest highlight is the all-new flat toes.Traditionally socks had to be knitted together at the toes which meant stitching on the inside, leaving this bumpy feeling. The new low-cut is made with an ‘auto-linking’ function on the same knitting device that flattens out the ends.

This is why there’s no stress to the tips of your toes while looking smart and feeling extremely comfortable to wear. A constant updating with our ideas because they are, after all, the standards. Yes, the spirit of LifeWear is alive and well in these pairs.

Everything goes well
on a day you wear a brand-new pair of socks.
At least, that’s my mantra.

MENLOW-CUT
SOCKS$3.90

Choose this socks

What is “LifeWear story 100?”

At UNIQLO,
there exist these lines of clothes
which has remained for many years,
trend-neutral
yet never dated.
Out of the line-ups,
they are the unsung presence,
sitting quietly behind in TV ads.

Yet, they are the culmination
of the years of passion and devotion,
where UNIQLO sought to pursue
more comfort,
more durability, and
more quality.

They give shape and gravitas
to what and who UNIQLO is,
and what UNIQLO continues
to nurture with great care.

To go beyond yesterday,
to reach higher tomorrow.

When you take it in your hands,
when you try it on,
it softly speaks to you,
almost like a friend.

What is a rich quality
lifestyle?
How is such a quality day spent?
What does happiness mean to you…

And you will find yourself
surprised to discover that such
piece of clothing has existed.

What is the UNIQLO principle?
Why do we call clothing LifeWear?
What kind of clothes constitute
LifeWear?

Here, we go deep into
the root of LifeWear,
to know
and to tell.
And I hope to write
stories that revolve
around LifeWear and myself.

LifeWear story 100 will be
a story about a journey with me and LifeWear.

Yataro Matsuura

Essayist, editor. Born 1965 in Tokyo.
For nine years from 2005, under the leadership of the founder, Shizuko Ohashi, he was the chief editor for the magazine, “Kurashi no Techo.” Since, he launched an online media site, “Kurashi no Kihon.” Currently, sits as a director for Oishii Kenko Ltd. Recognized for his eye for style and experience in presenting ideas for quality lifestyle. Regularly writes in his columns in newspapers and magazines. Has penned numerous best-sellers including “Kyo mo Teinei ni” and “Shigoto no Kihon Kurashi no Kihon 100.” Hosts a radio program on NHK Radio 1, “Karen Style.”