Fashion brand Uniqlo is about to take the British high street by storm
In Japan, Uniqlo is a household name: its 750 stores making it the number-one fashion retailer in terms of both sales and profits. But it’s never really done fashion with a capital F. “For years it’s been where people go to buy cheap socks,” is how Shoko Rudquist, a journalist who’s lived in both Tokyo and London, puts it. “There’s one on every corner.” Now with its eyes on the rest of the world, Uniqlo has raised the bar.
In a neat flip of the trend that sees western luxury brands compound their fortunes by heading east, Uniqlo has come here. And in style. In November 2006 it opened a 36,000sq ft flagship store on New York’s Broadway. Last month, it was London. This month it’s Paris. “The Uniqlo brand is being upgraded,” says Tadashi Yanai, Uniqlo’s sprightly 58-year-old founder and chairman and Japan’s sixth richest man.
“We used to open standard stores in standard locations towards a standard customer demographic with a standard product mix. Now we want all sorts of demographics. Fashion starts in New York, London and Paris.