Uniqlo makes fast fashion even faster

Japanese Fast Retailing, fashion chain Uniqlo’s parent company, has managed to drastically speed up its production cycle. From now on, it will only take thirteen days to bring a design to the stores.

Strong Asian growth

A new Tokyo-based center has enabled this incredibly fast production cycle. It puts designers and marketing teams together, adding a warehouse and distribution center. “We want to deliver products that customers want quickly. That’s why it’s Fast Retailing”, owner Tadashi Yanai told Business of Fashion. This new center will also allow Uniqlo to create more custom-fit clothing and allow for same-day delivery in the Tokyo region.

Bringing the cycle to below two weeks puts Uniqlo on Inditex’ level, which owns its major competitor, Zara. Yanai believes Uniqlo’s unique style will help it become even more competitive: “Zara sells fashion rather than catering to customers’ needs. We will sell products that are rooted in people’s day-to-day lives, and we do so based on what we hear from customers”, he said.

Over the next four years, Uniqlo targets strong Asian growth, with a hundred new Chinese stores every year and another hundred across Southeast Asia. Turnover should increase 70 % by the end of its 2021 fiscal year, to 3 trillion yen (23 billion euro), despite a mere 6 % turnover increase last year, on the back of more than 20 % in the three years prior to that.