Will UNIQLO's First Heat-Shielding Parasol Be the Savior of the Sweltering Heat? Testing Its Performance at the Ariake Artificial Climate Room

From AIRism and HEATTECH to Ultra Light Down—UNIQLO continues to roll out high-performance wear tailored to each season, many of which have become long-selling staples. UNIQLO's latest summer addition is the heat-shielding parasol, the "UV Protection Compact Umbrella Heat-shielding."

UNIQLO has already established a strong reputation for UV protection items, but this product takes on the challenge of reducing the heat from direct sunlight. To discover its technology and effectiveness, we visited the "Artificial Climate Room" that supported its development and spoke with UNIQLO's PR representative.

Background to the Establishment of "The LifeWear Research Institute"

"The LifeWear Research Institute," located inside UNIQLO's Ariake headquarters in Tokyo, was founded in 2019. The "Artificial Climate Room" within the institute is key to supporting the development of high-performance products.

"At UNIQLO, we have the concept of 'LifeWear'—clothes rooted in everyday life.

We are constantly exploring how we can help and support our customers' daily lives. That pursuit has led us to functional apparel.

Thanks to our customers' positive feedback, but to further enhance the precision of our products, we believed that a scientific foundation was necessary, which is why we established the LifeWear Research Institute."

The Artificial Climate Room is composed of two chambers. Temperature can be adjusted from minus 15°C to 35°C, and humidity from 0% to 95%. The ceiling is equipped with UV and infrared lamps, making it possible to realistically simulate summer sunlight.

This day, mannequins that react to UV light—which were made for events—were on display. When exposed to a UV lamp, you could clearly see that only the areas covered by UV-protection products were shielded from UV-induced discoloration.

One chamber is also equipped with a treadmill, making it possible to measure changes such as sweat and the breathability of fabrics during exercise.

Quick Improvements Enabled by the Artificial Climate Room

UNIQLO offers a wide range of staple items, but in fact, their high-performance wear is being upgraded year after year.

"No matter how popular an item is, it's never perfect. There's always feedback like 'I wish this part was just a little different,' and we believe those comments are the key to making even better products."

To capture user feedback, UNIQLO has a dedicated department to review both website reviews and social media, seeking ways to upgrade their products.

For example, if there are complaints about "static electricity easily occurring with skirts," the Artificial Climate Room is used to recreate winter conditions and investigate the cause of static buildup. The findings are used for further improvements.

"It’s routine that our tests don’t always deliver the expected results. Sometimes we go through over 100 prototypes."

This cycle of repetition underpins the evolution of UNIQLO’s iconic products. Additionally, for tests beyond their own facilities—like the UV cut rate—they partner with third-party organizations.

UNIQLO's First Item with Heat-Shielding Functionality, Taking On Summer Heat

Utilizing the Artificial Climate Room, the newly launched "UV Protection Compact Umbrella Heat-shielding" was developed.

Until now, UNIQLO has offered UV protection parasols, but this new "heat-shielding" function marks their first attempt at such technology.

"With rising temperatures and longer periods of intense heat in recent years, we've realized that there’s more than just a need for UV protection—demand for heat-shielding is also rising. That’s why we decided to integrate a heat-shielding function into our parasols."

When the Artificial Climate Room recreated an environment set at 30°C and 60% humidity, the difference in effect was clear.

Standing under an infrared lamp, the searing heat felt just like standing in the sun on a midsummer’s day. However, the instant you open the heat-shielding parasol, a refreshing coolness envelops your face.

Thermography confirmed that the temperature around the head area dropped as well.

The key to achieving this heat-shielding performance lies in a special multilayered material developed in collaboration with Toray. The base is Toray's proprietary material "Summer Shield."

"Summer Shield is an exceptionally high-performing material, but for UNIQLO, balancing performance and affordability was a major challenge. How could we ensure effective heat shielding at a price customers would find reasonable? We worked closely with Toray on that point and developed an original new material", they explained.

This new material features a multilayered structure that reflects heat and ultraviolet rays on the surface, while any heat that isn't reflected is absorbed by the inner layers.

When actually touching the inside of the umbrella in an artificial climate chamber, you could feel that while the fabric retained considerable heat, this warmth wasn't transferred to the head underneath—delivering a real sense of the product's effectiveness.

Engineered to Withstand Summer Sun & Torrential Downpours

Data has proven the product's performance.

It outperforms the S-35 standard for heat shielding (blocks 35% to less than 45% of heat), achieving S-45 (blocks 45% to less than 55%), and boasts a UV cut rate of UPF50+ (blocks 99% of UV rays).

Additionally, it has a water resistance rating of 10,000mm, meaning this one umbrella is equipped to handle everything from harsh summer sun to sudden downpours.

"In recent years, more men have started to carry sun umbrellas.

However, they're still a minority compared to women. That's why, this time, we designed the umbrella with slightly larger ribs at 55cm, making it especially user-friendly as a 'man's first sun umbrella.'"

The team is already considering expanding the lineup in the future.

"Based on the response so far, we're looking into making the umbrellas lighter and offering more color variations. We believe that heat-shielding functionality can play an even bigger role in helping people cope with the ever-intensifying Japanese summers", they said.

As Japanese summers become increasingly hot, "how to keep cool" is an ever-more important challenge. A single UNIQLO sun umbrella that can noticeably lower your perceived temperature may be just what you need.