Up for sale here is a shirt from John Undercover. John Undercover, in case you didn’t already know, is a sub-line of Jun Takahashi’s Undercover label. It, along with the ladies’ Sue Undercover label, are sort of between the mainline collection and their “basics” line. Designs certainly are not basic and quality is in no way sacrificed, although some of the detailing may not be quite as crazy as the UC mainline. I would say the line is comparable to Julius MA and Julius: that is, maybe somewhat simplified design but in no way cheap or compromised.
Anyway, the John Undercover line started in the fall-winter 2013 collection, and this shirt is from that first season. The design is much more complicated than a quick look at the pics would have you believe. For one, All of the main seams down the sides and arms are reinforced with a heavier weighted cotton binding, providing much more structure than you usually see for a t-shirt. The rear has additional reinforcements across the chest and the bottom. Given that these heavy cotton straps/reinforcements are on the interior, there is a very different feel to this shirt compared to a standard tee. Logo is pretty subtle as well. It’s not quite as visible as the pics make it out to be. Then of course you have the dye, which is also pretty interesting. It looks like a garment-dye process (although the tags aren’t colored here), with the dye being a highly uneven gray shade.
As you have hopefully see here, a lot of detail went into this shirt, as is typical for Undercover. The JUC label has been flying under the radar a bit outside of Japan, so get a really nice piece here while you can, and at an affordable price. Undercover are rarely ones to repeat themselves, and this design is now long gone too.
Size is labeled a 3 and fits like a medium. I measure the chest at 20”, shoulders at 18”, and length at 25”. The shirt comes in lightly used, excellent shape with no holes, tears, stains, or visible signs of wear. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $24.