{"id":528028,"date":"2026-07-01T18:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/528028\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T18:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:31:14","slug":"uniqlos-plan-to-dominate-global-fashion-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/528028\/","title":{"rendered":"Uniqlo\u2019s plan to dominate global fashion \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Yukihiro Katsuta joined Uniqlo <\/a>in 2005, the clothing retailer\u2019s founder Tadashi Yanai confided that the chances of successfully taking his brand global were perhaps \u201c0.5 or 1 per cent\u201d.<\/p>\n

Today Yanai is Japan\u2019s second-richest person and Katsuta is the company\u2019s research and development head. As Uniqlo sets its sights on conquering North America and Europe, Katsuta believes \u201cthe dream is coming true\u201d. Sales in both territories have more than tripled since 2021.<\/p>\n

Uniqlo accounts for over 85 per cent of sales at Fast Retailing, Asia\u2019s biggest fashion retailer. If this year\u2019s forecast for total revenue of 3.9 trillion yen (\u20ac21.1 billion) is achieved, the group will be within touching distance of H&M<\/a> \u2013 and it is already setting its sights on Zara <\/a>owner Inditex, currently the world\u2019s largest store-based fashion retailer.<\/p>\n

Some question whether a clothing brand born in the post-bubble era of Japan and anchored by a relatively narrow range of simple and affordable T-shirts, knitwear, jackets and underwear can make the leap.<\/p>\n

It will need to execute an ambitious expansion while also holding off online players such as Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion website whose annual revenue was $40 billion (\u20ac35.1 billion) last year, according to financial data website PitchBook.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre they really able to crack the US and Europe,\u201d wonders Achim Berg, founder and chief executive of FashionSights, an industry think-tank. \u201cAnd how much value can they create before fashion makes an inevitable comeback from the current market environment of modesty and \u2018silent luxury\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TadashiTadashi Yanai, chairman and chief executive officer of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo. Photograph: Toru Hanai\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n

But John Jay, president of global creative at Uniqlo, believes the group\u2019s time has come as consumers grow disillusioned with the social media \u201calgorithms of mediocrity\u201d pushing cheap throwaway clothing made from poor-quality fabrics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re perfectly positioned for the zeitgeist,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause quality is non-negotiable for us. It\u2019s a lot easier to make a high-quality cashmere sweater at $900. It\u2019s another thing at $100, and to continually improve that product over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sho Kawano, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, agrees that the company\u2019s defensive moats, including its leading position in advanced fabrics and its finely tuned supply chain, are formidable.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past decade, much of the industry gravitated towards fast-fashion, which ultimately strengthened Uniqlo\u2019s position,\u201d he says. \u201cIts dominance in basics is clear \u2013 and catching up at that scale would likely entail significant losses for competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting expectations of future growth, Fast Retailing\u2019s share price has risen 74 per cent in the past 12 months, tripling in the last five years.<\/p>\n

Still, success is far from assured. Replicating its growth in Asia \u2013 it operates more stores in China than H&M and Zara combined \u2013 will be challenging, especially in North America. \u201cThe US, in particular, is a graveyard for so many international brands that have tried to conquer it,\u201d cautions Berg.<\/p>\n

Fast Retailing\u2019s ambitious expansion plans will also have to be executed just as questions mount over when and how its visionary founder, now 77, might hand over control.<\/p>\n

\"DancersDancers perform during the Uniqlo Opera Reopening as part of Paris Fashion Week in 2023. Photograph: Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest risk is internal,\u201d says Genichi Tamatsuka, Fast Retailing\u2019s president between 2002 and 2005. \u201cThe turbulence of the leadership [transition] and losing the clear vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not until after the cataclysm of the second world war did western-style clothing decisively supplant the kimono as the norm for everyday wear in Japan.<\/p>\n

Executives say this starting point has allowed them to approach apparel design with fewer fixed preconceptions. They view casual clothing as a toolbox of components that mix and match easily with other items, rather than being fashion or statement pieces in their own right.<\/p>\n

The result is a relatively small range of what the company terms LifeWear: simple but well-designed essentials, prioritising function over form rather than fast-fashion\u2019s model of producing small batches of on-trend clothing at high frequency.<\/p>\n

Uniqlo releases only 800 new designs per year, and only about half of those are changed in its six-monthly renewal cycles. By contrast Zara, a fast-fashion pioneer, churns out thousands of designs every year, with new iterations arriving every fortnight. At Shein, thousands are released each day.<\/p>\n

Smaller ranges mean Uniqlo might end up selling a million units of a single T-shirt design versus, say, less than 100,000 at fast-fashion houses, generating scale and cost advantages when it comes to raw materials, sewing and dyeing.<\/p>\n

\"T-shirtsT-shirts for sale at a Uniqlo store in London. The chain is known for its range of basic clothing in a wide range of colours and cuts. Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n

The resulting high-quality products at reasonable prices were a winning model in the deflationary market of post-bubble Japan. Some analysts believe its lower gross profit margin relative to Inditex indicated how Uniqlo passed the price and quality benefit on to its cost-conscious consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniqlo was born in deflation and thrived in deflation. Post-bubble, people were looking for value rather than the show-off type of excess that had characterised all those exciting times,\u201d says Oliver Matthew, an analyst at Citic CLSA. \u201cUniqlo arrived at the right time and helped the household budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its first big breakthrough came in 1998 as shoppers thronged to get their hands on $15 fleeces in 50 vibrant colours at Uniqlo\u2019s new Harajuku store in Tokyo on a cold November morning.<\/p>\n

It was the start of Japan\u2019s \u201cfleece boom\u201d, during which the company sold 36mn jackets in three years, enough for one in every four Japanese to own one.<\/p>\n

As it expanded elsewhere in Asia, its simple designs and quality fabrics exuded affordable middle-class cachet, driving sales in China, Taiwan, Korea and southeast Asia. The use of thin layers, born out of Japan\u2019s cold winters and humid summers, proved ideal for the region\u2019s diverse weather.<\/p>\n

Uniqlo also sent dozens of Japan\u2019s \u2018takumi\u2019 textile, sewing and dyeing artisans to China in the 2000s to share know-how and control quality discipline at factories there, building up a dependable supply chain.<\/p>\n

Tamatsuka, the former Uniqlo president, recalls consolidating from 300 to just 50 manufacturers. \u201cWe started realising that if we give bigger volume, they will commit, they will really focus and they will improve in terms of quality,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Naveen Jha, who runs a textile and garment sourcing business in China\u2019s Jiangsu province, says \u201ceveryone wants to work with them because they take your output from good to perfect\u201d.<\/p>\n

Uniqlo\u2019s success in the region has spawned imitators, notably China\u2019s Bananain. But Clare Waight Keller, who designed Meghan Markle\u2019s wedding dress while at Givenchy and is now creative director at Uniqlo, says few will be able to sustain the Japanese company\u2019s single-minded focus on functionality.<\/p>\n

\"ClareClare Waight Keller, who designed Meghan Markle\u2019s wedding dress while at Givenchy and is now creative director at Uniqlo. Photograph: Daniel leal-Olivas\/AFP\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cIs that pocket really necessary? Is that the perfectly placed zip or is that neckline the one that will work with everything?\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s no room for superfluous design.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April 2000, Uniqlo founder Yanai paid a visit to the offices of Toray, a Tokyo-based chemicals and materials conglomerate he had read about in a magazine.<\/p>\n

It marked the start of a strategic collaboration that provided Uniqlo with arguably its most important advantage over rivals: access to high-tech, specialised fabrics.<\/p>\n

After testing 10,000 prototypes, Toray invented a material combining four types of synthetic yarn that absorbs moisture from the body and converts it to heat. Uniqlo branded it Heattech, and since 2003 has sold 1.5 billion garments made from or containing it.<\/p>\n

Toray also helped develop the fabrics behind AIRism, used as a breathable base layer, and the Ultra Light Down ranges of packable jackets insulated with bird plumage.<\/p>\n

Tomohisa Okawa, who manages the Uniqlo partnership at the chemicals group, shows a yarn invisible to the naked eye under a microscope that reveals the cross-section of dozens of fibres on which the Uniqlo logo is etched.<\/p>\n

Such control over fibre shape and fineness, dubbed nanodesign, has helped to make highly water-repellent and durable $50 lightweight parkas, creating a far cheaper alternative to specialist outdoor brands such as Patagonia.<\/p>\n

The two sides are entering a fifth phase of collaboration that aims to combine synthetic fabrics with natural ones, such as introducing cashmere into Heattech products to make them softer. Okawa believes few other retailers have such deep relationships with their key suppliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe perspectives of supply chain manufacturers and the ones selling things are very different,\u201d says Okawa. \u201cBuilding that mutual understanding is extremely hard. It\u2019s not something that can be achieved simply by shaking hands once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uniqlo\u2019s development of technical clothing with Toray was in its early stages when the retailer opened its first stores in London and New York in the 2000s.<\/p>\n

After an initial burst, sales were disappointing. \u201cI think they approached the US market without much tailoring to the American consumer,\u201d says Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. \u201cThey basically took what they did overseas and just dumped it in the US.\u201d <\/p>\n

Uniqlo responded by releasing popular designer collections, starting in 2009 with one by the \u201cqueen of minimalism\u201d Jil Sander. Sizing was adjusted and regional R&D centres generated hit products such as the Jersey barrel-leg trousers that its New York designers proposed.<\/p>\n

It also ventured into sports partnerships, recruiting tennis star Roger Federer as a brand ambassador in 2018 and sponsoring the field of the LA Dodgers\u2019 baseball stadium.<\/p>\n

The ratio of repeat customers in Europe and North America has risen from 40 to 60 per cent in the past four years. Brand loyalty is especially strong in Europe, where consumers value quality, and its success there could pave the way into the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.<\/p>\n

\"UniqloUniqlo counts Roger Federer among the athletes it endorses. Photograph: Bryan Bedder\/Getty Images for Uniqlo <\/p>\n

Uniqlo wants each territory to contribute revenues of 1 trillion yen (about $6.2 billion) \u2013 roughly what it achieves in its home market now \u2013 in around five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get good trust and respect from European customers, it has a strong meaning for global markets,\u201d says Taku Morikawa, chief executive of Uniqlo Europe.<\/p>\n

But the expansion carries significant risks. Uniqlo plans to open 40 stores per year across North America and Europe, which will mean entering regional cities such as Leeds and Oberhausen in Europe and Annapolis in the US, in addition to top-tier locations such as London, New York and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Saunders believes the company may come to regret its slow, cautious start in the US market. \u201cThey almost have too much to do … they want to grow a lot but they\u2019re still quite conservative about that push,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Just 15 per cent of sales are currently made online, compared to 26 per cent at Zara and 30 per cent at H&M. \u201cThey have to connect the retail platform with the online platform,\u201d says Hirotaka Takeuchi, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied and advised Uniqlo.<\/p>\n

Like many rivals, it has faced questions over sourcing cotton from the Xinjiang region of China, where human rights groups allege that forced labour is used. Uniqlo denied using Xinjiang cotton in 2024, but then faced a consumer backlash in China itself, where it has a big presence.<\/p>\n

A potentially bigger challenge is keeping fans of the brand coming back, especially if consumer tastes shift away from the no-frills casual wear that is Uniqlo\u2019s stock in trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with this business model is that I\u2019m buying my white T-shirt, then I may buy one in black, then I\u2019ll buy linen,\u201d says Pau Almar, who worked for Zara and Mango before founding the Very Good Retail consultancy. After two or three years, he adds, \u201cyou don\u2019t see much opportunity as it\u2019s [all] the same and becomes dull\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be difficult to get hooked on Uniqlo,\u201d he concludes. \u201cCan you be hooked on a commodity? Probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uniqlo may have been built on distinctly Japanese strengths such as advanced materials, minimalist design and skill at adapting products or trends from abroad. But its global success also hinged on a break from Japanese tradition in the form of Yanai, its founder and driving force.<\/p>\n

This much was evident back in 1991, when Yanai had just 23 Uniqlo stores. He told employees gathered in Yamaguchi that the Uniqlo brand would become the McDonald\u2019s of apparel, focused on a limited menu of best sellers and with a supply chain highly responsive to consumer demand, according to a corporate history written by a Japanese journalist. The parent group would henceforth be called Fast Retailing, Yanai declared.<\/p>\n

He also challenged the received wisdom that clothing needed to be sold by attentive sales staff in department stores, instead creating rows of neatly folded T-shirts, trousers and socks for shoppers to browse like a bookshop.<\/p>\n

\u201cYanai hates bureaucracy or big company things,\u201d says Junsuke Usami, a former Uniqlo executive who has written a book about the company. He has also changed senior management \u201cwithout notice\u201d as part of his \u201cchange or die\u201d philosophy to constantly evolve, Usami adds.<\/p>\n

Tamatsuka says Yanai is \u201cclearly the one creating tension \u2013 very high tension \u2013 that they must achieve the goal and vision and must maintain the discipline\u201d.<\/p>\n

But whether Fast Retailing can become the world clothing number one will hinge on how much of Yanai\u2019s burning ambition and contrarian instincts are instilled in the next crop of leaders.<\/p>\n

Yanai has tasked his sons Kazumi and Koji with ensuring solid corporate governance and handed the presidency of Uniqlo to Daisuke Tsukagoshi in 2023.<\/p>\n

But he has not anointed a successor and has ruled out his sons taking over. Yanai has tried to cultivate a deep bench of potential successors and people close to Uniqlo\u2019s management point to a circle of five proteges.<\/p>\n

A former Fast Retailing executive says that the biggest dilemma for whoever succeeds Yanai will be what comes next for growth, after Europe and the US. \u201cThere\u2019s a question of what else they should do beyond fashion, apparel and clothing,\u201d the former executive adds, suggesting skincare and homeware as options.<\/p>\n

Katsuta, the global R&D head, says Uniqlo will push ahead on many fronts: selling more of its core LifeWear, diversifying into accessories such as sunglasses, and starting to expand GU, an ultra-affordable, trend-conscious brand for younger buyers that currently accounts for about 11 per cent of group sales.<\/p>\n

But he doubts that the group\u2019s founder could ever be replaced. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to find another Mr Yanai,\u201d he says. \u201cForget about it. Nobody expects that.\u201d \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Yukihiro Katsuta joined Uniqlo in 2005, the clothing retailer\u2019s founder Tadashi Yanai confided that the chances of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,50620,61,60,4674,20619,144459],"class_list":["post-528028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-h-m","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-retail","tag-uniqlo","tag-zara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}