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Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社ファーストリテイリング, Hepburn: Kabushikigaisha Fāsutoriteiringu) is a public Japanese multinational retail holding company.[3] In addition to its primary subsidiary Uniqlo, it owns several other brands, including J Brand, Comptoir des Cotonniers, GU, Princesse Tam-Tam, and Theory.
The company was founded as Men's Shop Ogori Shoji in 1949, and formally incorporated as Ogōri Shōji Co., Ltd. in 1963 by Hitoshi Yanai.[4]
In 1984, the company, which ran a menswear store in Ube, Yamaguchi, opened a new casual-wear store named Unique Clothing Warehouse in Hiroshima City; this was the forebear of Uniqlo.[5]
In September 1991, Ogori Shoji changed its name to Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., and was listed on the Hiroshima Stock Exchange in July 1994.[5]
In February 1999, it was listed on the first section (large companies) of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.[5]
The company also owns the American brand Theory; In 2004, Fast Retailing acquired "an equity stake in Link Theory Holdings Co., Ltd., the marketer of the Theory and Helmut Lang apparel brands".[6] It acquired the rest of the company in 2009.
In 2007, it unsuccessfully offered a bid of US$900,000,000 for Barneys New York department store to the Jones Apparel Group.
In 2012, the company purchased an 80% stake of premium denim company J Brand for US$290,000,000, plus US$10,000,000 in advisory legal fees.[7]
