Uniqlo Teams With Lady Gaga and Karl Lagerfeld for Charity

Japanese-based retail monster Uniqlo (which is also slowly taking hold of the US market) and the Japanese arm of the publishing powerhouse Conde Nast have joined forces to help raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross to help the ongoing relief efforts to provide aid to those affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated the country back in March.

As if Uniqlo and Conde weren't enough of a dynamic duo, they've enlisted the help of fashion heavyweights like Lady Gaga, Karl Lagerfeld, Alber Elbaz and Victoria Beckham to help design t-shirts to be sold at the chain, with benefits being donated to the charity. But this is only the latest philanthropic scheme hatched by Uniqlo CEO Tadashi Yanai. The generous business man has already donated $12 million of his own wealth, $8.3 million in clothing and $3.6 million from Fast Retailing, Inc. -- the company that controls Uniqlo. The shirts hit stores on June 25th and will cost $19.90.

Photo of Karl Lagerfeld's design for Uniqlo, left, courtesy of Vogue UK/Kazuo Shimamoto