A recent contest that involved designing a t-shirt for Pokémon Sword & Shield has been rendered null and void, due to the revelation that the winner had already sold the design in the past.
The contest was held in conjunction with Uniqlo, which is a Japanese clothing designer that is known for its collaborations with different anime and video games. A contest was held for members of the public to design Pokémon themed-shirts that would be sold by Uniqlo, with the winning selection actually appearing as a t-shirt in Pokémon Sword & Shield that can be worn by the player character. TheGamer recently reported that a winner had been selected and that a shirt featuring Gyarados and Magikarp would be appearing in Pokémon Sword & Shield.
However, it seems that the winner of the contest has now been disqualified for not following the rules. According to Serebii, the contestant had already used the design for items that had been sold prior to entering it into the contest, which goes against the rules. The t-shirt design will no longer be appearing in Pokémon Sword & Shield. It has been determined that there will be no grand prize issued for the contest and none of the other winning entries will appear in the game in its place.
It's a shame that the Uniqlo contest winner's design won't be appearing in Pokémon Sword & Shield, but the existence of the contest proved that character customization will be part of the game. The ability to alter the appearance of the protagonist first entered the Pokémon series in Pokémon X & Y and it was one of the most popular new features in the game. Character customization has appeared in almost every new Pokémon game since then and it will be returning as a feature in Pokémon Sword & Shield.
The question now is whether Pokémon Sword & Shield will include any new outfits to replace the one from the contest? The other entries in the contest aren't being considered as a replacement, but it's possible that a similar contest could be held in regions outside of Japan in order to find a new t-shirt design for the game.
Pokémon Sword & Shield is due to be released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.