Hideo Kojima is constantly trying to push the envelope, even in a recent collab with Uniqlo’s sister brand, GU, with Death Stranding branded fashion. He says his favorite item of the GU collaboration is a uniquely-shaped T-shirt.
“If your mother does laundry, she’ll probably say, ‘This is crooked, maybe you have a misprinted one.’ I would say to those people — just laugh at your mom if she says that.”
With a sudden burst of nostalgia, he waxes fondly, “This is like in the ’60s and ’70s — the mom would probably say, ‘This pattern is defective. I’ll make it straight.’”
GU research and development designer Kazuhiro Toida tells Inverse in an email interview that the “crooked” T-shirt was inspired by in-game character Fragile’s costume. “The idea of switching T-shirts was impressive,” Toida says. “It made me realize that Kojima Productions’ creativity extends beyond games.”
Kojima really wants to turn Death Stranding into tangible culture, like how fashion and music are intertwined. He’s hoping the T-shirts help make more people aware of Death Stranding 2, which is set to be released this week on PlayStation. The collab is just the latest of several made between gaming companies and fashion brands looking to court young gamers, including Louis Vuitton and League of Legends, Dolce & Gabbana and Razer, and more. Beauty brands like Charlotte Tilbury and Pat McGrath have also followed suit.
Toida says that even non-gamers who don’t play the particular video game could still wear the clothes, and they could toggle between the more outlandish design if they wanted to “experience the work with their whole body” or just wear one of the quieter designs if they didn’t want to perceived. “We hope that everyone, regardless of age, gender, or location, will enjoy the world of Death Stranding,” he says.
Part of the reason Kojima chose to work with GU is due to the brand’s more accessible prices, he says.
Still, he wouldn’t rule out working with luxury brands in the future, and in fact, confirmed that he was in conversation with several.
“High fashion is about passion — crazy designs that define something,” Kojima says.
He agrees with me that the people of Death Stranding look like they’d wear high fashion like Yohji Yamamoto, though he wouldn’t elaborate on what brands he was talking to specifically, just describing them as being highly interested. He says that if he were to collaborate with a high-fashion brand, he would want to make it a gaming experience first so users could enter and touch the world.
“High-end brand companies are really interested in gaming as a medium. The era is changing: Everyone is thinking about it, but these high-end companies don’t know how to collaborate correctly with games,” Kojima says. “That’s why they ask me all the time. I think many companies will come into games because they already show high interest.”
