UNIQLO’s Purple Knitwear: How Purplecore Moves Into Everyday Wardrobes
Designer Rima Hirai discusses the response to purple, longer summers and seasonal dressing. The observations concern the brand’s products rather than a market-wide sales ranking.
Purple is getting more attention in UNIQLO Japanese autumn and winter products. Rima Hirai, the main designer of the brand's women's knitwear, said in a public interview that the purple options of some knitted products have a response close to black, and other tops, fleece and trousers have similar trends. This color topic, known as Purplecore or Grapecore, provides an insight into how everyday clothing receives catwalk trends.
Purple becomes the focus, but it is not a market-wide ranking
The public statement points to the brand's observation of its own products and does not release sales figures covering the entire market. The popularity of some knitwear products cannot directly infer that purple has surpassed all basic colors, nor does it mean that every purple product has the same performance in different regions.
For readers, instead of asking which color will be popular, it is more useful to see what materials and items purple is put into. The surfaces of cashmere, fine knits, fleece and trousers are different. Even if similar color names are used, light, thickness and matching area will make the colors show different characters.
Long summer and cross-season wear, changing the use time of colors
The connection between part of the Hirai Mahjong background and the seasonal boundaries becomes unclear: as summer lengthens, emphasis is placed on colors that can be used across different months. Purple doesn’t have to be just for fall and winter, nor does soft yellow just for spring and summer. The fixed pairings between colors and seasons are loosening.
UNIQLO purple cardigan.
This observation can be translated into a practical comparison in the closet. The same piece of purple knitwear will expose different areas when worn alone, draped over the shoulders or placed in a coat; first look at how you wear it in a year, and then decide on a large top or smaller accessories, which is more specific than buying a whole set for a short-term topic.
UNIQLO purple knitted goods.UNIQLO’s purple cardigan in a brighter tone.
From brown, red to purple, matching does not necessarily start over
The designer also mentioned that brown, red and purple, which have attracted much attention in recent seasons, are not unrelated to each other. People who already have a brown coat or dark lower body can first use them as a comparison background to observe the difference in purple next to warm colors, gray and black. There is no need to take the new color as a signal to replace the entire wardrobe.
UNIQLO is decorated with purple as the inner layer.
Purple itself also has a span of lightness, darkness and saturation. Dark purple, gray purple and bright purple may have different emphases on the same silhouette; if you are worried that it will be difficult to match, you can first take it under natural light and look at it next to the trousers and jackets you will actually wear, instead of just judging based on the screen photos.
The color of the product, from the general direction to each yarn
According to the interview description, UNIQLO’s creative director Clare Waight Keller proposed the overall color direction, and then adjusted it based on trends and sales response. Knitting can change the depth of the surface through the combination of yarn, concentration and color. It is not just a single color code on existing clothes.
UNIQLO purple knitted surface with buttons.Comparison of UNIQLO tops in different colors.
It remains to be seen whether purple will become a basic color long term. The really interesting part of this news is how the same trend word passes through design directions, yarns and products, and then enters different people's wardrobes; understanding this process has more room than treating Purplecore as the next dressing rule that must be followed.
