Uniqlo: Unique, Cheap and Thoughtful

My first ever and only Uniqlo shirt was sent to me as a gift about a year ago from one of my closet friends who is currently living and teaching English to Japanese children. The shirt was a large Yellow crew neck t-shirt that had a The Freedom Rider printed on it. Even though I appreciated the gift but it took me a year before I even wore it. I had never heard of Uniqlo nor had I seen any storefronts at the time (There are only three stores in the U.S. all in New York). When I finally revisited the T-shirt I realized that I had a Uniqlo shirt in my possession this whole time.  My friend knew my taste well before I did apparently. In the past year have come to favor this brand that I can hardly get my hands unless I ask my friend in Japan to send me more gifts or I can shop through their online store, although I prefer a gift. When I finally decided to wear the shirt, took the tags off and fell in like with this brand even more. There were two tags one with the color, sku number, UPC and size. The other tag was a Blue Note Records folded informational leaflet. The shirt in my possession was paying homage to a selection of Blue Note Records best designs. In this case, The Freedom Rider is the title of a Jazz Album composed of artist Art Blakely & The Jazz Messengers, an influential Jazz group. At that point, Uniqlo made me a fan. Although they are a fast fashion company they slow down just enough to pay homage a to jazz band.  I found that to be an admirable quality in clothing company.

It was once named Unique Clothing Warehouse in Hiroshima in 1984 and was founded by the current president Tadashi Yanai, which was based on the tailoring store that Yanai's father owned. The name was soon shortened to Unique because of a favored misspelling the name became Uniqlo. I considered them to be the Japanese version of the United Colors of Benetton

            I have read countless articles on Uniqlo success as a fast fashion company owned by parent company Fast Retailing Co. I recently read a Wall St Journal interview with Takao Kuwahara Uniqlo’s chief executive of Uniqlo UK. He discusses their global influence and growth.  I found this article unique because he discuses how Uniqlo considers Apple as a competitor because they both value customer service and the customer experience. I found it impressive that 90% of all Japanese people own at least one piece of Uniqlo clothing. I wonder could the same be said for The Gap, Old Navy or American Eagle Outfitter? What American retail apparel company can say that 90% of the American population owns at least one article of clothing? Uniqlo mission is to be No. 1 retailer in the next 8 years, they are currently number 3 with no plans of slowing down. Hopefully, they expand to the west coast, I am assuming Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. That would be awesome. Uniqlo designs fast, manufacturers fast and distribute faster all while maintaining a careful thoughtful design process into each garment, amazing. That is probably why they have a loyal customer based and grossed over 820 billion yen (7.7 Billion Euros) last fiscal year, that good business.