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Uniqlo Co., Ltd.

Type	100% consolidated subsidiary
Industry	Fashion Retail
Founded	Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture 1949
Headquarters	Tokyo HQ: Midtown Tower, Akasaka Kyuchome, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Tadashi Yanai, Chairman, President & CEO Takahiro Wakabayashi, Senior Vice President
Products	Clothing
Employees	30,000 (2008)
Parent	Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.
Website	www.uniqlo.co.jp

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

The company was originally a division of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.. On November 1, 2005, it was restructured as a separate wholly owned subsidiary called Uniqlo Co., Ltd., 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, France, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

History[link]

1949–1994: rise in Japan[link]

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

In May 1985, 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 Sh�ji" to "Fast Retailing", and by April 1994, there were over 100 Uniqlo stores operating throughout Japan.

1997: "SPA" strategy[link]

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[link]

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[link]

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.

The goal of 5 trillion yen by 2020[link]

On September 2, 2009, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. announced that the company would target annual group sales of 5 trillion yen (about 61.2 billion US dollars) and pretax profit from operations of 1 trillion yen (about 12.2 billion US dollars) by 2020. This means that the company is aiming to become the world’s biggest SPA with a continuous growth rate of 20% per year. The figure breaks down as 1 trillion yen from Uniqlo’s Japan business, 3 trillion yen from its international business, and 1 trillion yen from Japan-related and global brand business. The company’s international business target of 3 trillion yen breaks down as 1 trillion yen in China, 1 trillion yen in other Asian countries and 1 trillion yen in Europe and the United States.^[3]

Olympic and J. League uniforms[link]

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.

2012 Roland Garros[link]

No.1 ATP tennis player Novak Djokovic wears UNIQLO shirt at the French Open.

Worldwide Store[link]

United States[link]

Uniqlo store in New York.

In November 2006, Uniqlo 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 catering to the U.S. market.^[4] 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.^[5] In October 2011, Uniqlo opened its second and third flagship locations on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street near Herald Square in New York City.^[6]

Uniqlo has expressed a desire to open a store in every major U.S. city, and up to 200 stores in the country ^[7] It has a goal of reaching $10 billion in North American sales by 2020. As of April 2012, Uniqlo has signed a lease for a 29,000 square foot retail space on Powell Street in San Francisco's Union Square shopping district. ^[8]

France[link]

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[link]

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

• Tampines One (Open: 9 April 2009)^[9]
• ION Orchard (Open: 7 August 2009)
• 313@Somerset (Open: 3 December 2009)
• VivoCity (Open: 29 April 2011)
• Causeway Point (Open: 13 May 2011)

Malaysia[link]

Uniqlo made their first flagship debut in Malaysia at Fahrenheit 88, Kuala Lumpur in August in a 55:45 joint venture between Fast Retaling Ltd and DNP Holdings in 4 November 2010. It is the largest Uniqlo store in Asia (apart from Japan), spanning 3 floors. A second outlet is located in Suria KLCC, which opened in 5 May 2011. The third outlet was opened in 4 November 2011, at Old Wing 1 Utama Shopping Centre. In year 2012, a fourth outlet was opened at Setia City Mall, which opened in 17 May 2012. The fifth outlet at Mid Valley Megamall, wihch a expected to open in 24 May 2012.

Taiwan[link]

UNIQLO opened in Taipei on October 7, 2010 with the opening of the Hankyu department store, which was followed by rapid expansion throughout the country and the debut of a flagship store in 2011. As a part of an aggressive expansion strategy, UNIQLO has established storefronts in cities such as Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Hsinchu. ^[10]

Thailand[link]

Uniqlo opened it's first branch at CentralWorld shopping center on 9 September 2011. The store, located in Central World, is UNIQLO's largest in Southeast Asia, with retail space of approximately 2,700 square meters.^[11]

Record[link]

Record sales at Seoul[link]

In November 2011, Uniqlo generated more than 2 billion won ($1.7 million) in one day’s sales on November 11 when it opened Asia’s largest flagship store in central Seoul.

The sales figure was the highest ever set by a fashion outlet in Korea, industry sources said Thursday.^[12]

The previous record was 460 million won set by French luxury brand Chanel last year when it opened a new store in southern Seoul.

2011 Bungeishunjū allegations and lawsuit[link]

In May 2011, shūkanshi Shukan Bunshun published a story alleging that Uniqlo had forced employees at its stores and factories in China to work long hours for little pay. In response, Uniqlo sued the weekly's publisher, Bungeishunjū, for ¥220 million for defamation. The lawsuit is pending.^[13]

Store Count[link]

Projects[link]

Designers Innovation Project[link]

The Uniqlo Designers Invitation Project saw the invitation of women's wear 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[link]

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. On February 5, 825 UNIQLO stores across Japan began retailing special Big Bang T-shirts in celebration of the group’s upcoming tour. Big Bang (Korean boy band) has set an amazing record by selling out all their UNIQLO T-shirts within 15 minutes after they went on sale. The brand boasted 10 different designs for the collaboration, and according to the company, every single Big Bang item was sold out within 15 minutes of the stores’ opening. As of the 6th, fans who were unable to purchase the shirts have been expressing their disappointment by uploading pictures of empty shelves.

Uniqlock Project[link]

This section requires expansion.

Uniqlock, a web-based Flash widget as well as downloadable screensaver combination of Music-Dance-Clock, was launched on June 15, 2007. Season 1^[20] 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,^[21] 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^[22] 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[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: UNIQLO

• (Japanese) (English) Uniqlo official website
• (English) Uniqlo UK official website
• (English) Uniqlo USA official website
• Uniqlo UT Project
• Uniqlo Singapore official website
• UNIQLO Fan Page on Facebook

Tadashi Yanai (柳井 正, Yanai Tadashi^?, born February 7, 1949) is founder and president of Fast Retailing, of which Uniqlo (ユニクロ, "unique clothing") is a subsidiary. He is routinely ranked as one of the richest men in Japan, and in 2009 was ranked 76th richest man in the world according to Forbes, making him the richest man in Japan with an estimated net worth of $6.0 billion USD.^[1][2]

Biography[link]

Yanai attended Ube High School and later Waseda University, graduating in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Politics.^[3] In 1984, he opened his first Uniqlo store in Hiroshima.^[3] In the April 2009 issue of Monocle magazine, Yanai said, "I might look successful but I've made many mistakes. People take their failures too seriously. You have to be positive and believe you will find success next time."

Yanai won the International Retailer of Year award for 2010 from the National Retail Federation in US. He was the fourth of only Japanese nationals to win it, and the first since Masatoshi Ito (owner and honorary chairman of the Ito-Yokado retailing group) in 1998. He was also chosen as best company president in a survey of Japanese corporate executives by Sanno Institute of Management in 2008 and 2009.^[4]

In March 2011, Yanai donated 1 billion yen to victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.^[5]

References[link]

This Japanese business-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Eriko Sato (�藤 江梨�?)
Born	(1981-12-19) December 19, 1981 (age 30) Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Occupation	Actress, Glamour model
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 9 in)
Measurements	BWH: 88-58-88 (cm)

Eriko Sato (�藤 江梨�, Sat� Eriko^?, born December 19, 1981), originally a glamour model, is a Japanese actress.^[1]

She was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and raised in Tokyo.^[2] She was given the Best Actress award at the 2008 Yokohama Film Festival.^[3]

She should not be confused with the similarly named Erika Sato (�藤江梨花), who is a Japanese adult video actress (known in Japan as an AV idol).

Filmography[link]

Movies[link]

• The Setting Sun (ShayÅ�, 2009)
• Death Note (2008 L Movie)
• Silver Season (2007)
• Carved (2007)
• Funuke domo, kanashimi no ai wo misero (2007)
• Japan Sinks (2006)
• Cutie Honey (2004)
• Samurai Girl 21 (2002)

TV Dramas[link]

• Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge Live Action Drama (2010, TBS)
• Kikujiro to Saki 2007 (2007 TV Asahi)
• Densha Otoko DX~Saigo no Seizen (2006 Fuji TV)
• CA to Oyobi (2006 NTV)
• Shin Ningen Kosaten (2006 NHK)
• Sengoku Jieitai (2006)
• Tenka Souran ~Tokugawa Sandai no Inmo (2006 TV Tokyo)
• Densha Otoko (2005)
• Koi ni Ochitara 2005
• Tokyo Wankei (2004)
• Lunch no Joou (2002)
• Kaidan Hyaku Monogatari (2002)
• Korean Drama as Yuko Fueki (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://eriko-sato.yellow-cab.co.jp/
• Eriko Sato at the Internet Movie Database