Uniqlo

Uniqlo Co., Ltd. (株式会社ユニクロ, Kabushiki-gaisha Yunikuro) (US: /ˈjuːnikloʊ/ YOO-nee-kloh; Japanese pronunciation: [jɯnikɯɾo]) (a shortened contraction of "unique clothing") is a Japanese designer and retailer specializing in fast fashion, with a focus on casual wear. The company operates 2,543 stores including 794 in Japan and 1,002 in Greater China. The company is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, which was founded by the Yanai family and is 20% owned by Tadashi Yanai, now the richest person in Japan.

Specialties include its Heattech range of heat-trapping clothes and designs using licensed works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Keith Haring. Clare Waight Keller is the creative director of Uniqlo.

Men's Shop OS was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi by Hitoshi Yanai. It was rebranded as Ogori Shōji in Yamaguchi-shi in March 1949. In 1972, Tadashi Yanai, the son of founder Hitoshi Yanai, joined the company.

In June 1984, then with Tadashi Yanai at the helm, it opened its first store, a unisex casual wear store in Fukuro-machi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima named Unique Clothing Warehouse.

Initially, the brand was going to be registered as a shortened contraction of "unique clothing". In 1988, during administration work in Hong Kong for registering the brand, "C" was misread as "Q". Tadashi Yanai liked the error, and shortened the name to "Uniqlo" across Japan.

In September 1991, a month after the inaugural store in Fukuro-machi closed down, the name of the company was changed from "Ogori Shōji" to "Fast Retailing".

In 1994, the parent company became a public company. That year, the company opened its 100th store, all of which were in Japan. Japanese consumers sought bargains during a period of economic stagnation known as the Lost Decades.

In 1997, Fast Retailing adopted a set of strategies known as "SPA" (for specialty-store/retailer of private label apparel), producing and exclusively selling its own clothing.