Less is warm

London doesn’t just stay indoors once the weather gets cold. From street food to outdoor art, guerilla gardening to cycling, there are plenty of reasons why the most inspiring young Londoners don’t even think of looking at the weather forecast, even in the middle of winter.

London-based art collective Graffiti Life (pictured above) are perfect proof that life shouldn’t be watched through a window just because it’s wet or windy outside. They are part of a series of profiles of active, creative Londoners, presented by UNIQLO to showcase their sleek, high-performance casualwear using their own cutting-edge fabric, HEATTECH.

Meet the street artists
‘Graffiti was something I did with my friends, it was a social thing,’ explains Iona, a member of Graffiti Life. ‘I never imagined that graffiti would become my career, it was just a way to express myself and create art in a very free way.’

From the industrial landscape of abandoned warehouses and railway sidings to five-star hotels and celebrity parties, their art has taken Graffiti Life all over the world, and given them a chance to connect with fellow artists as they travel.

But the city streets are their natural habitat. And what’s the best part about working in the urban outdoors? ‘Fresh air. Friendly people. Crazy people,’ says Iona. ‘Knowing and interacting with your city, in a way that very few others do. Rain is the worst enemy of spray paint. But we're inventive, and when we've decided we're painting a wall there is very little that will stop us. I've watched guys dry a wall down with their socks before now.’

Iona explains how the warmth and comfortable flexibility of UNIQLO’s HEATTECH clothing makes a difference and helps them maximise their time outdoors. ‘When we're working in London and the weather is so unpredictable, wearing HEATTECH makes us feel like we have a protective shield against the elements. That helps us to be more confident, whether we're painting in a hailstorm or climbing up and down ladders all day in the sun. Movement is also important for us, and we can move without restriction using HEATTECH.’

UNIQLO supplied Graffiti Life with the Men’s HEATTECH extra warm long sleeve T-shirt, Women’s HEATTECH V-neck long sleeve T-shirt, Women’s HEATTECH leggings and Women’s HEATTECH knitted legwarmers.
HEATTECH was created by UNIQLO in conjunction with textile specialists Toray. Through painstaking research they developed a cutting-edge fabric that stores body heat in pockets of air within the material, to keep the wearer warm without the need for bulky layers. The fabric features in a range of clothes from T-shirts to tunics to trousers.

Perfect for cold city days and nights, HEATTECH is something UNIQLO believe in so passionately that they’re giving away thousands of UNIQLO HEATTECH T-shirts between now and store closing time on November 20.
All you have to do is go to the UNIQLO website to get a voucher code. Enter your email address and you’ll be sent a ten-digit code that you can redeem for a T-shirt at a UNIQLO store. *

* At participating stores only, and while stocks last. Full terms and conditions can be found with the registration form on the UNIQLO website.
Sign up for your voucher code