Whether it’s the flamboyant outfits of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure or the perfectly tailored day-to-day school outfits from series like Sailor Moon, eye-catching fashion and character design in anime and manga is a mainstay. Given how fashion-forward so many anime series are, it only makes sense that anime-inspired fashion trends would crop up. From record-breaking movies to best-selling manga, the past two years have been especially huge for manga and anime, and all the merchandise around it.
On TikTok, anime merchandise and clothes specifically rose in popularity. Where official merch was harder to come by, smaller sellers started creating streetwear for manga like Chainsaw Man. Others looked for T-shirts or replicas of their favorite characters’ accessories, like earrings. Others just wanted cute products inspired by their characters’ outfits, which is where the popular Shinobu Kocho swimsuit came in.
The merch and content around it seemed endless. Individual influencers posted videos about how they would style their anime merch and posted anime-inspired outfits. Together, anime merchandise and clothing became a major consumer trend. Now even larger companies are likely looking to cash in on the anime merch boom — Shonen Jump even launched a clothing store in January. Given the pervasiveness of it all, Polygon staff happened to pick up some anime merch over the years — so we decided to write about our favorite anime merch and why we like it so much.
