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Revision as of 11:27, 2 January 2011

Uniqlo Co., Ltd.
Company type100% consolidated subsidiary
IndustryFashion
Retail
FoundedUbe, Yamaguchi Prefecture 1949
HeadquartersTokyo HQ: Japan Midtown Tower, Akasaka Kyuchome, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Key people
Tadashi Yanai, Chairman, President & CEO
Takahiro Wakabayashi, Senior Vice President
ProductsClothing
Number of employees
30,000 (2008)
ParentFast Retailing Co., Ltd.
Websitewww.uniqlo.co.jp

Uniqlo Co., Ltd. (株式会社ユニクロ, Kabushiki-gaisha yunikuro) is a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer.

Originally a division of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., on November 1, 2005, Uniqlo Co., Ltd. was born of corporate restructuring, and now exists as a 100% consolidated subsidiary of Fast Retailing, which is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Uniqlo is Japan's leading clothing retail chain in terms of both sales and profits.[citation needed] The company also operates in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Singapore, Taiwan, Russia and Malaysia.

History

1949-1994: rise in Japan

Since March 1949, a Yamaguchi-based company, Ogori Shōji (which, until then, had been operating men's clothing shops called "Men's Shop OS") existed in Ube, Yamaguchi.

In June 1984, they opened a unisex casual wear store in Fukuro-machi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima under the name "Unique Clothing Warehouse". It was at this time that the name "Uniqlo" was born, as a contraction of "unique clothing". In September 1991, the name of the company was changed from "Ogori Shōji" to "Fast Retailing", and by April 1994, there were over 100 Uniqlo stores operating throughout Japan.

1997: "SPA" strategy

In 1997, they adopted a set of strategies from American retailing giant The Gap, known as "SPA" (Speciality-store/retailer of Private-label Apparel), meaning that they would produce their own clothing and sell it exclusively. Uniqlo had begun outsourcing their clothing manufacturing to factories in China where labour was cheap, a well-established corporate practice. Japan was in the depths of a recession at the time, and the low cost, high-quality goods proved popular. Their advertising campaigns also proved fruitful.[1]

1998-2002: first Tokyo store and overseas expansion

In November 1998, they opened their first urban Uniqlo store in Tokyo’s trendy Harajuku district, and outlets soon spread to major cities throughout Japan. In 2001, sales turnover and gross profit reached a new peak, and with over 500 retail stores in Japan, Uniqlo decided to expand overseas, establishing Fast Retailing (Jiangsu) Apparel Co., Ltd. in China (and in 2002, opening their first Chinese Uniqlo outlet in Shanghai) and opening their first four overseas outlets in London, England.

But sales did not go well in England, and stocks in Japanese warehouses were overflowing. In 2002 and 2003, Uniqlo profits dropped sharply. In 2004, the company began joint ventures with Japanese fashion magazines, and hired such celebrities as Norika Fujiwara to appear in commercials. They teamed up with new designers, and profits rose (their London outlets also finally entered the black). The acquisition of other fashion companies by Fast Retailing also helped the struggling company get back on its feet.[citation needed]

2005-present: further expansion

2005 saw more overseas expansion, with stores opening in the United States (New York), Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui) and South Korea (Seoul), their South Korean expansion being part of a joint venture with Lotte. By 2006, Uniqlo was looking into expansion into Europe after a re-launch in the UK stabilized profits. As of year-end 2005, in addition to its overseas holdings, Uniqlo had around 700 stores within Japan.[citation needed] Fast Retailing signed a design consulting contract for UNIQLO products with fashion designer Jil Sander in March 2009[2]. Shiatzy Chen has been approached by UNIQLO to produce a capsule collection of ready to wear pieces to launch in November 2010 while Asia's largest Uniqlo store outside Japan opened its doors in Kuala Lumpur in the same month.

Olympic and J. League uniforms

Uniqlo also furnished the uniforms for Japan's Olympic athletes in the 1998, 2002, and 2004 Olympic Games, as well as the uniforms for J.League's Thespa Kusatsu team.

Manhattan flagship store

In November 2006, Uniqlo's opened its first flagship store in the SoHo fashion district of Manhattan, (New York City). New fashion designers have joined the store's team to boost and rebirth fashion concepts catered to the U.S. market.[3] The opening of the Manhattan store was followed in September 2007 by the closing of Uniqlo's three New Jersey locations, as well as four New York locations, leaving the count of North American stores at one.[4] Uniqlo plans to open a second flagship location on Fifth Avenue in New York City.[5]

France

In December 2007, Uniqlo opened its first store in France in La Défense. On October 1, 2009, a flagship store opened in Paris close to the Opéra.

Singapore

Uniqlo opened three stores in Singapore in 2009 as part of a franchise owned by Wing Tai Holdings.

Malaysia

Uniqlo made their first flagship debut in Fahrenheit 88, Kuala Lumpur in August in a 55:45 joint venture between Fast Retaling Ltd and DNP Holdings in November 2010. It is the largest Uniqlo store in Asia apart from Japan spanning 3 floors.

Taiwan

Uniqlo opened in Taipei on Oct 7 2010.[7]

Store count

Location Store number
Japan 703 (99 in Tokyo)
South Korea 41 (20 in Seoul)
United Kingdom 15 (14 in Greater London 1 in Bluewater - Kent)[8]
China 54[9]
Hong Kong 13[10]
United States 1[11]
France 2
Singapore 3
Malaysia 1
Taiwan 1
Russia 1
Malaysia 1[12]

Projects

Designers Invitation Project

The Uniqlo Designers Invitation Project saw the invitation of womenswear designers Phillip Lim, Alice Roi, Tina Lutz and Marcia Patmos of Lutz & Patmos, Kino, and GVGV; and men’s wear designers Halb, Satoru Tanaka, and Alexandre Plokhov of Cloak to each design capsule collections of eight looks for Spring/Summer 2007.

4 additional designers/labels were asked for the 2009 Designers Invitation Project. Women's wear saw boutique owner Steven Alan and Shipley & Halmos, while men's wear include Opening Ceremony and Gilded Age.

UT Project

The UT Project was launched on April 28, 2007 in Harajuku, Tokyo with the launch of a new innovative store concept designed by Uniqlo creative director Kashiwa Sato of a futuristic convenience store for t-shirts. Each t-shirt style is displayed on forms in stainless steel display cases, with individual t-shirts packaged in clear plastic canisters resembling tennis ball cans. The t-shirts are stored on open shelves, making the shopping experience virtually self-service.

In celebration of the opening of the UT store, Uniqlo launched the UT Project, a limited-edition collection of t-shirts designed by renowned artists, designers, photographers and musicians including Terry Richardson, Nobuyoshi Araki, Bjorn Copeland of Black Dice, Kim Jones, Peter Saville, Gareth Pugh and many more. There are approximately 1,000 unique t-shirt styles being delivered each year as part of the UT Project from these artists as well as other collaborative efforts such as ECM Records and the Evolution Store in SoHo, NY. The t-shirts will be available at the UT store and Uniqlo stores worldwide, with nearly 100 new styles being introduced to the New York Global Flagship Store each month.

Uniqlock Project

Uniqlock, a web-based Flash widget as well as downloadable screensaver combination of Music-Dance-Clock, was launched on June 15, 2007. Season 1[13] features four girls auditioned from youtube wearing Uniqlo's 20 color dry polo shirt, dancing freestyles similar to ballet , with background music composed by Fantastic Plastic Machine. Blog-parts were Flash components provided so that Uniqlock can be inserted into individual blog pages. Uniqlock soon gained popularity, as shown in its World Uniqlock page. Until November 2008 there were up to 191 million clicks from over 200 countries, with up to 40,000 blog-parts in 88 countries. Uniqlock Season 2,[14] launched in November 2007, featured Cashemere Knits, with the same dancers, dance style, as well background. The movie quality was improved, and dancers would appear to be asleep if the time in the specified region is nighttime. Also in each hour special clips would be shown instead; Season 2 features 2 men playing music, doing clean up chores. In season 3[15] 20 color t-shirt promotion, 4 new dancers were introduced in addition to the original 4, switched by hour. On August 31, 2009, Season Six premiered in the new setting of Paris, France. The clock's time was also changed to display the time in Paris.

References

  1. ^ Nagata, Kazuaki, "Choice, chic, cheap — no one feels fleeced", Japan Times, November 17, 2009, p. 3.
  2. ^ http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/about/history/2009.html
  3. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/business/worldbusiness/10retail.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
  4. ^ http://www.uniqlo.com/us/news/2007/10/uniqlo_closes_new_jersey_store.html
  5. ^ http://consumerist.com/2010/04/uniqlo-paying-record-300-million-for-fifth-avenue-spot.html
  6. ^ http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/420532/1/.html
  7. ^ http://www.uniqlo.com/jp/corp/pressrelease/2010/06/062415_taiwan.html
  8. ^ - Uniqlo's UK website refers to 14 stores in April 2009.
  9. ^ - Uniqlo's China website refers to 54 stores in June 2010.
  10. ^ Uniqlo Hong Kong store locator
  11. ^ STORES - Uniqlo.com(three New Jersey stores were closed on or around September 102007 Uniqlo press release
  12. ^ ［http://www.uniqlo.com/my/aboutInfo.html］
  13. ^ http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/season1/
  14. ^ http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/season2/
  15. ^ http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/season3/

Retail

Wikimedia Commons has media related to UNIQLO.

UNIQLO Fan Page on Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/UNIQLO/169899916916?ref=ts

Corporate

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