As some of you may have seen on my Instagram (I’m kirstyteacat on there if you want to add me for pictures of cats and sewing), I recently bought a sewing-themed jumper from Uniqlo Japan, as part of their collaboration with Merchant & Mills. I was following in the footsteps of Novita from verypurpleperson and yoshimi the flying squirrel, who both showed photos of theirs on Instagram too.

A few of you asked how I went about ordering it, so I thought I’d do a little post on it.

First of all, note first that Uniqlo Japan do not ship outside of Japan, nor do they accept foreign credit cards. Boo. However, there are companies around who will buy things for you from Japanese companies and ship them to you, for varying fees. I used a company called Sendico – I have no affiliation with them, and it was the first time I’d used them, but since everything went smoothly I’m happy to recommend them.

Second, you need to decide what you want to buy!

Here is a link to the page of Uniqlo Japan’s x Merchant & Mills products. There are five sweater/jumper options, and six tote bags to choose from. Important: DO consult the size chart (it’s the button right under the sizes on the individual garment page) – Japanese sizes are significantly smaller than Western sizes, for the most part, although Uniqlo is a little better than other places. I got an XXL, and it fits perfectly. For reference, I tend to wear an AU 12/14 or a US 10/12. Returning it will not be possible, so order carefully.

Once you’ve picked out what you want, you need let Sendico know. First, though, you need to make a Sendico account. After you’ve done that, at Sendico’s page, up the top click the link to “Other Japanese Online Stores”. Enter the URL of the item you want to purchase, the title and the colour and size in the comments. They have instructions there to help you. Then someone from Sendico will have a look at it, tell you how much you need to pay (cost of the item plus tax and shipping to them in Japan), and then you can pay this amount via Paypal or credit card. Once it arrives at their warehouse (and this took about a week for me, as I stupidly ordered right before Christmas/New Year, when everything shuts down), they will let you know how much you need to pay to get it to wherever you are. Once you pay that, they’ll package it up and send it along!

The sweater costs 2955 yen, plus a 500 yen Sendico service fee. The shipping to me, via EMS with tracking, to New Zealand, was 1860 yen, and it arrived in about 3 days after Sendico sent it, complete with a New Year’s card and bonus sheep phone charm! It’s not the cheapest sweater I’ve ever bought, certainly, but I love that it’s sewing themed, and I love Uniqlo’s clothing anyway – I try not to buy much RTW these days, but Uniqlo always has good quality, affordable clothes. The sweater is soft and warm, and I can’t wait to wear it when the weather here cools down a bit!

I hope this helps you if you wanted to buy your own sewing sweater, and if you have any other questions, I’ll help as much as I can.