A T-Shirt Shop You Can’t Buy With Money

The experience-based project was organised by Cab Co., Ltd., the company behind the plain apparel brand United Athle, to coincide with May 30, Japan’s “Zero Waste Day.” It was held from May 28 to 31, 2026, at GoOn TOKYO in Harajuku, Tokyo.

Five artists, Daijiro Ohara, Ryu Okubo, Hiroki Niimi, Hermippe and Kengo Aoki, took part in the project, each creating a limited-edition graphic. At the venue, visitors could combine different T-shirt bodies, designs and ink colours, then print their chosen design themselves using a silk screen.

United Athle, the plain apparel brand operated by Cab Co., Ltd., held “The T-Shirt Shop You Can Buy With a Promise” for four days from May 28 to 31, 2026, at GoOn TOKYO in Harajuku, Tokyo. Created around May 30’s “Zero Waste Day,” the limited-time T-shirt shop focused on the idea of “taking care of your clothes for a long time.”

As mass production, mass consumption and mass disposal continue to be issues within the fashion industry, everyday T-shirts have also become garments that are often treated as disposable and given up after relatively short periods of use. In response, this project created an opportunity to experience the attachment that comes from putting effort into a T-shirt, and the value of continuing to wear one garment for a long time.

Visitors created their own T-shirt through three steps: “Choose,” “Make” and “Promise.” First, they selected their preferred T-shirt from United Athle’s wide range of blank bodies, then combined a limited-edition design with their choice of ink colour before printing it themselves using a silk screen. Finally, after making a promise to “take good care of it,” they were able to take their completed T-shirt home.

The project featured five artists: Daijiro Ohara, Ryu Okubo, Hiroki Niimi, Hermippe and Kengo Aoki. Each artist works across different fields, including graphic design, illustration and animation, bringing their own distinct approach to the limited-edition designs.

With more than 42,000 possible combinations of T-shirt bodies, designs and ink colours, the project was about more than the finished garment. The process itself was at the heart of the experience: choosing, getting your hands involved in making it, and finally making a promise to take care of it.

Rather than treating the moment a T-shirt is brand new as the finish line, the project encouraged visitors to enjoy the way a garment changes through continued wear, including the character and texture that develop over time.

Through the simple act of making a T-shirt, the project offered a different way of thinking about how we choose, wear and build a relationship with the clothes we live with.