Fashion Collaborations

Pokemon and merch - name a more iconic duo. Pokemon-branded shirts have been around since nearly the inception of the brand. However, Pokemon-branded fashion is a little newer. What’s the difference? ‘merch’ refers to just your basic shirts and jackets with Pokemon imagery pasted it. ‘fashion’ refers to collaborations with designers or fashion brands that’s meant to not just be a fun t-shirt, but to be part of a wardrobe. It is designed more intentionally - at least in theory. I want to take a look at Pokemon fashion collaborations and consider which ones look good and which ones do not.

Levi’s Pokemon 25th Anniversary Collaboration

A 2021 collaboration with Levi's that is no longer available. You can see the lookbook and some of the other images on other websites.

This collaboration with famed denim company Levi's left a lot to be desired. It fell into some of my least favorite design tropes, namely "grab official art and slap it on something." This makes it feel like a more expensive and larger version of the Pokemon t-shirts targeted at children you can find at stores like Target and Old Navy. This might be acceptable if the prices were Target and Old Navy prices, but these collabs are rarely "affordable." I will be skipping over the various shirts and hoodies that are just official art on a background and focusing on the more interesting or unusual pieces.

The Pikachu Trucker Jacket

This is a light wash denim jacket with a lightning bolt applique near the sleeve cuffs, a Pokeball applique on the back yoke near the shoulder, and a giant Pikachu applique on the back.

I like the decision to go with a lightwash here to harmonize with the bright yellow of Pikachu. The front of the jacket looks pretty good. Overall, though, it is pretty lazy, design-wise. It would not be especially difficult for someone with a cricut to basically replicate this design, and with a more well-fitting jacket. The giant Pikachu on the back looks tacky and screams “merch” more than “fashion.” The Pokeball applique on the back yoke is a nice touch, as are the lightning bolt sleeve decorations, but you could easily make these yourselves without paying scalper prices. Because the Pikachu bit is on the back, this jacket could be easily integrated into your existing wardrobe, with the lightning sleeves looking like an elevated detail.

The Pikachu Jeans

Same light wash as the jacket. This is even worse. The jacket had some details that made it stand out, but this is literally slapping Pikachu on the thigh and back ankle. This doesn’t look like something that you can easily wear with other shirts because the Pikachu is just so obviously begging for attention. There are no lightning motifs or otherwise thoughtful details to make this standout. Once again, you can make this at home, but I would recommend against it.

Misty’s (Togepi) Tank Top

A light yellow cropped sleeveless tee with a Togepi applique. The Pokemon aspect is subtle but present - from the obvious throwback to Misty’s outfit in the anime to the small applique. It seems like it could be easily integrated into a wardrobe, worn with any pants or jacket. Issues - it does not look like it fits well on the model near the armpit, which is concerning! The crop also looks awkward, creating a belly gap even in high waisted jeans. It’s not a slim-fitting top either, so it balloons out near the waist.

Balmain

Balmain is a French fashion house that, in 2022, partnered with Pokemon to create Pokemon-themed collabs.

Many of these amounted to making the Balmain labyrinth pattern yellow and black, with official art of Pikachu somewhere in there. This is another issue with Pokemon-themed collabs - they often turn into Pikachu-themed collabs. How much you like this collab will depend on how much you like the labyrinth pattern and Pikachu's color scheme.

Perhaps you want the pattern on pants? Curiously one of these is in blue but still has a Pikachu silhouette. Both of these are relatively lazy designs, but I cannot deny that they are peak Meeting of the Brands.

These pants have a little more effort to them. The first one has a curious nylon (?) panel in yellow below the knees. Cool idea, but as with Levi's, I must ask - why pay Balmain for these? You can make these at home easily. There isn't even anything especially Pokemon about them. The second ones have a little Pikachu silhouette and a neat lightning-shaped hem. I like them, though they border on costume-y and would definitely be statement pieces. I repeat, though... this is something you can make at home. If all you care about is having the Brand Name, then I'm sure that won't bother you, but I really would only pay prices like that for a totally unique design and construction that I couldn't get anywhere else.

Sneakers

I will hand it Balmain - these are cool. These are an excellent Pikachu sneaker. It makes use of Pikachu's color palette of yellow, black, and red, with white added so the shoe isn't just blinding high-contrast. And they really take advantage of this color palette: the red and black split sole imitates two squished Pokeballs! There's a decorative white lightning detail as a nod to Pikachu's electric typing. This is an example of something clearly inspired by the world of Pokemon, but which isn't extremely obvious. It's not cosplay either, as you could totally incorporate this into a streetwear-style outfit. It is definitely an attention-grabbing statement piece, but it doesn't cross the line into ludicrous. Props to them, though the price is of course eye-wateringly high.

Original Stitch

Pokemon partnered with the now tragically defunct company Original Stitch to create a collection of made-to-measure men's shirts with custom prints based on Pokemon. You could customize the shirt based on the type of collar you wanted, whether you wanted the print all over or just on the placket and cuffs, a pocket, and sleeve length. A totally unique collaboration, though with a hefty price around $100. Not all the prints were winners, either. Overall, I still think this is the best Pokemon fashion line and it's a shame that they closed down. I attempted to order one of the shirts but the amount of customization options freaked me out, since if I didn't like it, I couldn't return it.

There are more than a hundred designs, so I'll take a look at a few that I view as exemplary and a few that missed the mark.

These are super cute. They take into account the nature of the Pokemon and its design, but also use that to make a good print. They're not too busy. From afar, it may not be obvious they are Pokemon shirts. It's when you get up close that you can knowingly smile at the pattern. There is still something a little dorky about them - they remind me of men's party shirts that have a print of like, sushi or cats all over. I happen to like that sort of thing, so it's not a big deal, but it is something to point out about these.

The aforementioned men's party shirts.

On the less good side, some of the patterns are eyesores. The Butterfree pattern on the right is cool as a print, but it does not translate well to a shirt. I almost feel a little dizzy looking at it.

And some cross the line from dorky to kind of ugly. As everyone Pokemon is someone's favorite, I'm sure someone will tell me that the Magikarp shirt is charmingly camp and super Tommy Bahama and I'm just a humorless prig. If you like the Magikarp shirt, go ahead! But I think it's pretty ugly. Because of the design of Magikarp, when it cuts off, it doesn't just look like the pattern was interrupted, but like Magikarp has been cut in half. The big red blobs are also very attention-grabbing. This would be a very bright shirt as a short-sleeve; a long-sleeve version of this would be downright overwhelming. There's also just no way to style this without making it clear that you are wearing your Magikarp shirt because you love Pokemon and you gotta wear your Pokemon shirt. It's a statement piece, but the statement itself lacks any nuance or taste or good design.

Most of the designs were rather okay. With hundreds of designs, it's no surprise that not all of them got the same love and attention. I'm glad to get new artwork featuring Pokemon that usually don't get any attention, but this isn't just artwork - it's a shirt. It's difficult to avoid the feeling that many of these designs would look gimmicky in real life, like something you'd wear once and everyone would comment on it, but afterwords you'd leave it in your closet because it's hard to match with anything, or it's just too one-note. I don't want to be doom and gloom about it, though. There are many tasteful and fun designs here, especially if you don't just look at your favorite Pokemon and explore all the options.

Unfortunately Original Stitch no longer exists, and since the shirts are all custom-made, I imagine getting one of these second-hand in a sizing that works for you is gonna be rough. I suspect that having literally hundreds of prints available and having the shirts be made-to-measure made it more expensive to produce these shirts, and they probably didn't have enough orders for it to be worth it. Looking through YouTube for reviews, for example, I'm surprised to find few people reviewing and showing off the shirts themselves. This venture might have lasted longer if there were fewer prints.

I would like for future Pokemon collabs to be more like this one. There's care taken here to not just slap official art on it and call it a day - at least with most of the designs. Some are dangerously close to that... but most of them aren't, and that deserves praise. There's an intentionality here and a vision that makes it stand out from the lazy over-priced cash-grabs. Many of these could be well-integrated into a wardrobe without becoming the center of attention every time they're worn.

Clarks

2024 Torhill

2023 Torhill

2023 Wallabe

Puma

Bulbasaur and Pikachu appear on the PUMA Rider FV modern classic, Charmander takes up the Slipstream Lo 1987 basketball shoes, and Squirtle is featured on PUMA Suedes featuring icy translucent soles - Hypbeast

There appears to be an alternative version of the Charmander Slipstream Lo, featuring fire-print soles. I can't find this one for sale or secondhand anywhere, so maybe this wasn't ever actually made?

Fila

FILA