This year, the winners were chosen by a judging panel that consisted of Tsunekazu Ishihara, President and CEO of The Pokemon Company, Ken Sugimori, Managing Director of Game Freak inc., and Nigo, the Creative Director of Uniqlo UT.

The 24 winning designs were revealed to the public in May, with the grand prize going to Li Wen Pei from China, who submitted a design called “Ocean King“, which features three Magikarp with their evolved form, Gyarados, drawn in a “totem style” to signify the “evolution from weakness to mightiness.”

The winner of the competition was set to receive prizes that include US$10,000 in prize money, but according to reports, Li Wen Pei previously sold smartphone cases with his winning design before the competition, and a line of counterfeit T-shirts was made using this same design. Li Wen Pei’s winning entry appears to be in violation of the contest rules, which state that qualifying designs must not have been published before.

It looks like the runners-up are clear from any signs of controversy. This means they can happily take home their respective US$2,000 and US$1,000 prize wins, and we can definitely look forward to seeing their designs in stores. The runner-up prize goes to Mizukilobyte from Japan, who had the clever idea of hiding Unown inside a vision test.

Third place goes to Emily from the U.S., who created a cute and summery “Pikachill” design showing Pikachu and Alolan Exeggutor “chilling on a tropical beach with a fancy drink”. Her design will be sold in women’s and kids’ sizes.

The new collection was released online and in stores around Japan from June 24, where the adult sizes will retail for ¥1,500 (US$13.56) and the youth sizes will retail for ¥990 each. The collection will be available at Uniqlo stores around the world too. And given the affordable price range, we’ll be able to add more than one tee to our wardrobes for casual occasions.

Head down to SoraNews24 via the link below to see even more incredible designs.

Source, images: Press release

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