TOKYO — Uniqlo has named Emma Raducanu its latest global brand ambassador, joining the likes of Roger Federer, Adam Scott and Kei Nishikori. Britain’s top-ranked female tennis player became the youngest winner of the U.S. Open in 2021 at the age of just 18.
“Emma is of course an amazing competitor with an aggressive play style, but even off the court she remains true to herself and her own values, which are very much aligned with the current times,” Koji Yanai, director of Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent company, told a press conference here Tuesday.
“I am thrilled to have Emma here with me, it has been a long time that we have wanted to have a woman sports player on the team here at Uniqlo, and so I am very, very excited to have Emma join us and to represent us in sport and in style,” said Clare Waight Keller, Uniqlo’s creative director.
For her part, the 23-year-old tennis player said that she feels very aligned with Uniqlo as a brand, and that she also feels very comfortable in the clothing, both on and off the court.
“My image of the Uniqlo brand is that it’s not just one dimension; it encompasses every element of life. And I think that’s so well represented by the LifeWear idea,” Raducanu said. “I think it’s also for everyone. There is no singular person, everyone is a great representation for [the brand] and can feel comfortable and feel confident.”
Uniqlo has developed an initial tennis dress for Raducanu to wear on the court, but the collaboration will go far beyond this, with the athlete wearing and representing the brand both on and off the court.
“I think one of the most important things is to understand what you need when you are an athletic performer, but also have an ability to look and feel confident in clothes,” Waight Keller said regarding the design and development of clothing for Raducanu. “And I think particularly in sport it’s a very high demand activity, there’s a lot of pressure, and you want to make sure that you’re not worried about what you’re wearing; that you feel extremely confident in it.”
In Uniqlo’s current roster of global brand ambassadors, Raducanu is the only woman yet the fifth tennis player. The team is rounded out by Scott, a professional golfer, and Ayumu Hirano, a professional snowboarder.
“I think with everything that we do here at Uniqlo we think very much in terms of a global point of view, so obviously we can look at many different sports, but I think especially for us because tennis is one of the kind of LifeWear sports — anyone can play it in a way, even when you’re very, very young you can start taking up tennis and it can become something that you take all the way through your life. So I think it’s sort of linked very closely to our philosophy in terms of our clothing, that it’s something that anyone can enjoy,” Waight Keller said.
“So I think Emma in particular, in terms of reaching that young customer and those young, aspirational athletes, felt like someone super exciting to bring on board. And the way Emma conducts her herself, and her confidence, but addressing struggles too — I think a lot of young people do struggle — and so the nice balance for us is that it feels very authentic and very real, and that’s what we love so much,” she added.