Management and controlling company of businesses specialising in casual wear, fast Retailing operates through segments including UNIQLO Japan, UNIQLO International and Global Brands. The company also engages in real estate leasing services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the company began as a menswear shop in 1949, later becoming Ogori Shoji Co., in 1963, followed by Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. in 1991.
Tadashi Yanai expanded his clothing business to Hiroshima in 1984, establishing Japanese casual wear leader UNIQLO’s first location. After nearly ten years of expansion and growth, UNIQLO’s parent company, Fast Retailing, listed its shares on the Hiroshima Stock Exchange in 1994, then the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1997. The company spread overseas with the opening of its London UNIQLO store in 2001, followed by a Shanghai location in 2002. In 2004, the company entered a joint venture with South Korea’s Lotte Shopping Co., Ltd. and extended the UNIQLO brand into South Korea. The first UNIQLO Hong Kong location opened in 2005, and the brand’s first global flagship store was launched in New York City in 2006.
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd’s UNIQLO accounts for 6.5 per cent of the Japanese apparel market. The company’s international business accounts for approximately 51 per cent of sales with its 1,241 stores. Founder Tadashi Yanai’s family is considered the richest in Japan with a net worth estimated at $24.9 billion.
- Family name: Yanai family
- Sector: Consumer Products & Retail
- Founded: 1949
- Founder: Tadashi Yanai
- Country: Japan
- Company headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
- Revenue: 13.9
- Employees: 41,646
- Website: fastretailing.com
Connections
Also on Tharawat
