Up for sale here is a pretty rare collaboration between Japan’s Undercover and the Dickies workwear clothing label. Undercover has a long history in Japanese fashion, being one of the first “urahara” streetwear labels and working closely with Bathing Ape from the outset. They have since become a highly influential label, melding a strong musical influence with super high quality materials and tailoring.
What we have here is part of a one-off collaboration between Undercover and Dickies for the fall-winter 2010 collection, “avakareta life”. The idea was to create wearable yet fashion-forward pieces. It did away with superfluous details, but kept the tight execution Undercover is known for. As far as I know these pieces were only sold at the Isetan department store in Tokyo, although they may have also had limited availability at the Undercover shops.
This is a two-piece set with a khaki work shirt and scarf, both in 100% cotton. The shirt has the Dickies and Undercover logos, while the scarf is unbranded but features the same embroidery motif. I assume the shirt is modeled after the Dickies work shirt, although Dickies normally produces in a cotton/polyester blend and usually somewhere in Latin America. This shirt is fully cotton and made in Japan. The chest and right sleeve feature cursive embroidery, with the chest reading “recreation understanding arrogance” and the right sleeve “peace tolerance calmness”. The scarf comes in a complimentary olive green and reads “attack prejudice humility” (I can’t read the first word on there). Shirt additionally features an Undercover neck tag and collection specific tag under the Dickies logo.
In all this is a pretty unique take on classic workwear filtered through Undercover’s very specific aesthetic. These were produced in very limited quantities and are now long gone. Finding them together as a set is even rarer still, but get it here at the cheapest price around.
Size is labeled a medium and fits true. For the shirt I measure the chest at 21” / 54cm, shoulders at 18” / 45cm, length at 30” / 77cm and sleeves at 26” / 67cm. For the scarf I measure both the length and width at 39” / 100cm. The shirt and scarf both come in used, generally good shape. The shirt has a small stain on the back of the left sleeve, while the scarf also has a few small stains (see pictures). Otherwise no issues. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $26 for the set.
