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(株式会社ユニクロ, kabushiki gaisha yunikuro^?) is a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer.

Originally a division of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (FR), on Nov. 1, 2005, UNIQLO Co., Ltd. was born of corporate restructuring, and now exists as a 100% consolidated subsidiary of Fast Retailing, which is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

UNIQLO is Japan’s leading clothing retail chain in terms of both sales and profits. The company also operates in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Corporate History

Since March 1949, a Yamaguchi-based company, Ogori Shōji (which, until then, had been operating men's clothing shops called "Men's Shop OS") existed in Ube, Yamaguchi.

In June of 1984, they opened a unisex casual wear store in Fukuro-machi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima under the name "Unique Clothing Warehouse". It was at this time that the name "UNIQLO" was born, as a portmanteau of the words "unique" and "clothing". In September of 1991, the name of the company was changed from "Ogori Shōji" to "Fast Retailing", and by April of 1994, there were over 100 UNIQLO stores operating throughout Japan.

In 1997, they adopted a set of strategies from American retailing giant The Gap, known as "SPA" (Speciality-store/retailer of Private-label Apparel), meaning that they would produce their own clothing and sell it exclusively. UNIQLO had begun outsourcing their clothing manufacturing to factories in China early on, where labour was cheap, a well-established practice in the business world. Japan was in the depths of a recession at the time, and the low cost, high-quality goods proved popular. Their advertising campaigns also proved fruitful.

In November 1998, they opened their first urban UNIQLO store in Tokyo’s trendy Harajuku district, and outlets soon spread to major cities throughout Japan. In 2001, sales turnover and gross profit reached a new peak, and with over 500 retail stores in Japan, UNIQLO decided to expand overseas, establishing Fast Retailing (Jiangsu) Apparel Co., Ltd. in China (and in 2002, opening their first Chinese UNIQLO outlet in Shanghai) and opening their first four overseas outlets in London, England.

But sales did not go well in England, and stocks in Japanese warehouses were overflowing. In 2002 and 2003, UNIQLO profits dropped sharply. In 2004, the company began joint ventures with Japanese fashion magazines, and hired such celebrities as Norika Fujiwara to appear in commercials. They teamed up with new designers, and profits rose in this year. (Their London outlets also finally entered the black.) The acquisition of other fashion companies by FR also helped the struggling company to get back on its feet.

Read more at Wikipedia.org