Uniqlo’s Chief Says Fast Fashion Must Change With The Times

Forty years after its founding, Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo now operates over 2,500 stores globally. Its parent company, Fast Retailing Co., recently surpassed 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) in annual sales for the first time, Yuri Kageyama reported for the Associated Press.

Yanai detailed Uniqlo’s journey to becoming a global brand. I Photo: Fast Retailing

The name Uniqlo combines "unique" and "clothing," reflecting its core concept of “LifeWear,” or everyday essentials.

Fast Retailing Co. CEO Tadashi Yanai, ranked as Japan’s richest man by Forbes with an estimated net worth of $48 billion, recently shared his reflections with AP.

“Looking back, the past 40 years flew by, feeling more like three years. In Japan, we say, ‘Time flies like an arrow,’” Yanai said. “We began as a regional business before expanding nationwide.”

Yanai detailed Uniqlo’s journey to becoming a global brand.

“When we became Japan’s No. 2 or No. 3 in casual wear, and No. 1 was within reach, we listed the company in 1994. That led to our fleece boom, doubling our revenue in a year to 400 billion yen ($2.6 billion).”

However, going global proved challenging. “When our revenue hit 300 billion yen ($2 billion), we opened 50 stores in Great Britain. It was a failure—we closed 16 stores within 18 months, leaving just five.

It was tough,” he admitted. Today, Uniqlo’s sales in London and Paris are among its strongest. “Progress took time, but we’ve made significant strides,” Yanai emphasized.