Cai fan merch label PointyRice calls out Uniqlo keychain's ‘uncanny' likeness
Uniqlo's customisable Mixed Rice Keychain, a gift-with-purchase as part of its Thank You Festival. PHOTO: UNIQLO
SINGAPORE – More small local brands are speaking up about Uniqlo Singapore's local food campaign.
The Japanese retailer's UTme! Local Delights Collection, which consists of T-shirts featuring iconic Singaporean dishes, sparked buzz online recently, for its resemblance to small local clothing brand Musoka Club's designs. The incident generated conversation about who owns the copyright to local food culture.
Meanwhile, another player has entered the picture.
Ms Caitanya 'Cait' Tan is the founder and chief executive of local merchandise brand PointyRice. She has been fielding messages from followers about the similarities between her product and Uniqlo's gift-with-purchase, which she describes to The Straits Times as 'too uncanny'.
As part of Uniqlo's Thank You Festival celebrations, which ran till May 29, customers who spent $100 and above in-store at Orchard Central and Jewel Changi Airport received a customisable Mixed Rice Keychain. And they could pick little acrylic 'dishes' to fit inside a plate-shaped keychain.
PointyRice (pointyrice.com) currently retails stickers of mixed rice dishes that customers purchase individually to layer and customise onto a plate sticker. Dishes start at $2.50 a sticker, while a plate and rice are both priced at $2.50.
Uniqlo's Mixed Rice Keychain gift-with-purchase.
PHOTO: UNIQLO
When Uniqlo teased its Mixed Rice Keychain in May, followers asked Ms Tan if she was working with the Japanese retailer. She took to Instagram (@caitofalltraits) on May 19 to clear the air.
It is the first retail brand started by the 38-year-old, whose many hats include being an actress, voice-over artist, host and director of boutique agency AllTraits , under which PointyRice operates.
She created Pointy Rice as a 'lifelong Singaporean identity-building project' for locals to 'celebrate hawker dishes we grew up with that don't get enough recognition'.
After conceptualising the brand in November 2024, she launched PointyRice on April 5 with a pop-up at Lyf Farrer Park. The set-up featured a table with trays of stickers portraying different types of cai fan dishes, which customers could choose to customise their 'plates'.
Ms Tan and her team of three played hawkers serving their customers. She hired her cousin, a fellow actress, to act as a grumpy cai fan auntie – 'to put the 'fun' in cai fan'.
A six-minute video she posted of the event garnered more than 200,000 views on Instagram and TikTok combined. She believes Uniqlo Singapore would have seen the video.
'I cannot say they copied me, but the internet got mad for me. I've done a lot of research – I started with cai fan because no one had done the concept in this way, and I understand why now. It's not an easy project. It's extremely difficult to design each digital asset, then produce it as a physical product that people can customise themselves; and the ability to layer.'
Screenshot of comments on Uniqlo Singapore's Instagram account.
PHOTO: UNIQLOSG/INSTAGRAM
Screenshot of comments on Uniqlo Singapore's Instagram account.
PHOTO: UNIQLOSG/INSTAGRAM
She says she had reached out to Uniqlo Singapore a month before to collaborate, but did not hear back. She has worked with the brand on past campaigns in the capacity of a content creator.
Within 40 minutes of her posting her May 19 video on Instagram, a representative from the brand reached out.
Uniqlo denied taking inspiration from PointyRice or mimicking her designs. The brand also invited her to its Thank You Festival media event, and raised the possibility of a future collaboration. But it was 'too coincidental', says Ms Tan. 'I just wanted them to acknowledge it.'
She believes the biggest similarity was the store concept and layout. 'It's not just cai fan, it's bringing cai fan to a physical experience. Effort went into the detailed designs, sourcing multiple failed samples and hand-cutting 28,000 stickers just to set up an experience that is now going to be considered by the masses as an imitation of Uniqlo's campaign.
'A creative's currency is her creativity and ideas. It's not the keychain I'm sad about. It's the concept of the pop-up that I'd put research and finances into that hurt me the most.'
PointyRice's pop-up stall in April, featuring cai fan 'dishes' customers could use to customise their orders. (*PLS COLLAGE w/ pic below)
PHOTO: POINTYRICE
Uniqlo Singapore's Mixed Rice Keychain cai fan stall concept at Ion Orchard.
ST PHOTO: AMANDA CHAI
In response to queries from ST, a Uniqlo spokesperson says: 'Uniqlo is aware of an ongoing conversation, and values all perspectives shared.
'As is our standard practice, Uniqlo commenced planning for its customisable mixed rice keychain several months prior to its launch through our Thank You Festival. This item is part of a global trend of customisable accessories, and follows other customisable gift items created by Uniqlo in Singapore in previous years.'
The spokesperson adds that Uniqlo did not receive any collaboration proposals from local artists or illustrators related to the cai fan customisation.
PointyRice's long-term plan is to produce merchandise, says Ms Tan, who is working on expanding her products to nasi padang and nasi kandar. Her ultimate vision is to have a physical space recreating a hawker centre, with stalls selling various delicacies in sticker form.
She says: 'People are going to say, 'How to IP cai fan? It's for everybody.' But a little credit wouldn't hurt anyone. We're all Singaporean.'
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