UNIQLO UTme! x EAP Early Autism Project Provides Platform for Autistic Children’s Creative Expression

Designed my own Uniqlo UTme! x EAP t-shirt and tote bag at meet the artist session behind UNIQLO Malaysia X Early Autism Project (EAP) at DA Square. UNIQLO continues to lend its helping hand to Malaysia’s differently-abled community with its latest UTme! collaboration with Early Autism Project (EAP), an education centre that focuses on rehabilitating with autism for the local autism community.

UNIQLO UTme! x EAP Early Autism Project Provides Platform for Autistic Children’s Creative Expression

This UTme! X EAP supports The Hope Project, an initiative by EAP Malaysia to increase awareness and access to accurate diagnosis and treatment for individuals with autistic spectrum.

Speaking at the meet-the-artist session today, Diane Foo, UNIQLO Malaysia Head of Sustainability explained the concept of UTme! and the collaboration with EAP. “UTme! is a service offered by UNIQLO that allows customers to add custom designs created by our collaborating artists and designers to T-shirts or Tote bag in any way they like. Our collaboration with EAP features artwork from children with autism; and we are pleased to be able to provide a platform for these differently-abled children to express their creativity as well as raise awareness of to the autism community” she said.

Diane Foo, UNIQLO Malaysia Head of Sustainability (left) and Jochebed Isaacs, Director of EAP Malaysia and Founder of The Hope Project (right) at meet the artists behind the UTme! X EAP event at DA Square

Also present at the session was Jochebed Isaacs, Director of EAP Malaysia and Founder of The Hope Project. She highlighted the benefits of expressing through art for individuals with autism. “One of the hallmarks of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is the difficulty with verbal and social communication.

Introduction of designs by Gerald (left) and Elias (right)

However, children with autism have an extraordinary ability to think visually in pictures, so communicating visually, such as through drawing and coloring helps them to communicate what’s going on in their world. In fact, drawing could help children with ASD regulate their emotions, interact with peers and family, and build self-confidence,” she said.

UNIQLO UTme! x EAP Early Autism Project Provides Platform for Autistic Children’s Creative Expression

Four young artists described the inspiration of their work and an activity that simulates what it is like to have ASD was conducted to better understand these children’s world.

Diane added that UTme! X EAP reflects the company’s sustainability statement of Unlocking the Power of Clothing as it harnesses the communicative power of UTme! to drive awareness and support for the local autism community.

Sustainability corner at UNIQLO DA Square

She said: “This UTme! collaboration is one of the initiatives in which we support the differently-abled community.  On a broader perspective, UNIQLO Malaysia is an advocate of diversity and inclusion, whereby over 2% of our workforce is made up of differently-abled talents, including individuals with autism, who are given equal opportunities in skills training and career growth. We have seen their capabilities and are proud of them, and we will be giving more opportunities to help differently-abled talents grow. Overall, Malaysia can look forward to more sustainability efforts from UNIQLO to help build a better society.”

 UNIQLO UTme! x EAP T-Shirt

UTme! X EAP tote bag in printing

UTme! X EAP is available from December 1, 2021 at UNIQLO Fahrenheit 88 and UNIQLO DA Square stores only. 

For more information about UNIQLO UTme! x Early Autism Project and UNIQLO Sustainability, please visit www.uniqlo.com