Locator: 10012UNIQLO.
Previous links:
- from February 12, 2013:
- also, February 13, 2013:
- and, just last month, September 17, 2025:
I find it amazing that I first noticed Uniqlo twelve years ago and then again last month, and now it's a headline story in The New York Times. What a great blog.
And now today, from The New York Times, link here.
Mr. Yanai, 76, came of age in postwar Japan, steeped in American culture. He wore Converse and drew inspiration for Uniqlo from casual wear brands like Gap. Conquering the American market is also a matter of personal legacy for Mr. Yanai, whose Uniqlo empire today comprises more than 2,500 stores globally.
“I want to succeed in America,” Mr. Yanai said in an interview in a sunlit office in New York’s Meatpacking district. It was the preppy youth styles of the East Coast that opened his eyes to clothing in the 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Yanai said. So, he said of the market, “I feel the most attachment to it.”
After opening its first store in New Jersey in 2005, Uniqlo’s North American business didn’t turn profitable until 2022. The market’s expansion since then helped Fast Retailing report a record annual net profit of $2.8 billion on Thursday.
In the United States, “finally, we got to the entrance point,” Mr. Yanai said.
Yet Mr. Yanai’s optimism is shadowed by his growing alarm over the political and economic direction of the country that played a foundational role in Uniqlo’s identity.
