Everyone needs a Companion or a BFF, and I’m not talking about friends. I’m referring to the artistic pieces made by American artist, Brian Donnelly, or as he’s better known – KAWS. He first created the character, Companion, back in 1999 when he was approached by Japanese clothing brand Bounty Hunter. They wanted a toy, so he created the Companion out of vinyl, and it’s blown up since.

 

The signature design is made more unique with the eyes and hands “X”ed out. They’re typically posed showing a shy or sad demeanor, with their hands covering their eyes, or just generally looking dejected with their heads looking down at their feet. Otherwise, they’re standing up straight or in interesting poses as they look to be doing regular day-to-day tasks.

 

The BFF design is fairly recent, made only a few years ago in 2016. It shares a similar build to the Companion but with a wooly exterior, which is outside the artist’s usual style as the Companion has a very smooth finish. Despite that, the BFF was a huge success as indicated by the speed at which the release of the BFF plushies sold out. He released 1,000 plushies to commemorate the new design, and within just two and a half hours, they were all sold out. Since then, many iterations of the Companion and BFF have been released, adding to the thirst for these collectors’ items.

 

After he got his big break with Bounty Hunter, he had worked on a lot of collaborations with big name companies like, BAPE, Burton, Vans, Supreme, DC Shoes, MTV, Hennessy, Dos Equis, Comme Des Garcons & Pharrell Williams, Air Jordan, and specific to this review, Uniqlo. Also, I’m sure you’ve noticed in my previous videos, and this one, the Sesame Street plushies behind me… yup they’re another collaboration with KAWS.

 

Anyway, back to Uniqlo. Uniqlo is a famous Japanese causal clothing brand that operates in multiple countries across the world. When KAWS and Uniqlo teamed up, they designed and released several T-shirts with the iconic KAWS sculpture prints. The shirts released on June 3^rd of 2019 in multiple styles. The one I’m wearing now is my favorite, and I was quick to get it. You know, working at an online retail store does have its benefits.

 

The shirt I’m wearing uses the relatively new BFF design where it looks like an older BFF holding smaller ones in a caring and strong manner. I love the simplicity of the shirt. The white backdrop provides the perfect canvas for the art to be portrayed. The material is 100% cotton so it’s extremely soft to the touch and is comfortable on my skin. Plus, it’s easy to match my shoes with. It is a bit thick, so I’ll probably get hot if I wear it outdoors in the summer – then again, the weather in Dubai as it is means you could be wearing your birthday suit and still wish you could take more off.

 

I got this in a Large and honestly, I was worried it’d be too big. I have broad shoulders, so I typically want the waist to be taken in a bit, but this fits perfectly. It’s not too tight anywhere nor is it too loose.

 

Essentially, the limited KAWS x UNIQLO shirts give the wearer the feeling of comfort; not just in terms of the feel of the fabric, but also in the comfort of mind that the wearer will look stylish in any casual setting. Check out @ofour_reviews for more pics of the shirt, and be sure to grab yours today from www.ofour.com!