Get To Know: Japanese Retailer Uniqlo
josh hunter
- January 29 2009
- 702 views
- 8 comments
Uniqlo is among the many rumored entities interested in Quiksilver. The “fast fashion” retailer has found incredible success in Japan by using collaborations, quickly reacting to trends, and offering affordable apparel to its customers. Whether the company is actually interested in acquiring Quiksilver or DC—or any other action sports company for that matter—is purely fodder for the rumor mill at this point, but this video sheds a little light on the identity of the retailer for those who may not have heard of them.
»
January 29th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Hair-ro,
Welcome to Da Zchapaneze Gap sur … may I hep uwe?
January 29th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Josh,
I like it(where did you find this vid?). Uniqlo has some innovative items. Their model is similar to American Apparel which makes it tough for our action sport brands to compete based on the old pre-book and wait 6 month business model. The model is going to change before these retailers take over our consumers.
MR
therookery.ning.com
January 29th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
MR,
Ever since hearing that Uniqlo had an interest in Quiksilver I started kind of digging around to learn more about them and came across this video. Really interesting.
Good point about American Apparel. I actually went up and toured AA’s factory in downtown LA last week…pretty insane. They can take a product from concept to production (up to 250K garments a day) in 8 days! Pretty wild.
Stay tuned for the video tour of the factory here on the site. I’ve got to go back up there and do a couple of quick voice over additions/ edits with the guy who is editing the video for me, so I should have it live on the site next week.
JH
January 29th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Josh, I’m curious as to where you have heard this idea/rumor of Fast Retailing making a deal with Quiksilver… might you be able to disclose that?
I have been following the same idea; Fast Retailing is positioned well to make this acquisition with a strong cash position, favorable USD/JPY exchange rate, and strategy for diversifying outside of Japan. Of course, it could be any one of the other struggling US retailers right now; but the CEO has stated he is itching to take advantage of the marketplace. In a recent interview Tadashi Yanai said the following:
Q.-Your company has set a goal of 1 trillion yen sales for the business year ending in August 2010.
A.-”A company without a goal tends to drift, and I set that goal because it’s easy to understand. The figure can be achieved if we undertake a merger and acquisition deal worth 200 billion yen to 300 billion yen. If we accomplish that, we can procure between 300 billion yen and 400 billion yen in funds.”
300 billion Yen… that’s 3.3 billion dollars!
Apparently they just recently made a tender offer for the remaining stake (68%) in Theory they do not already own in a $200 million dollar deal.
Read the company’s M&A strategy and you wonder… does ZQK fit the model?
http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/management/manda.html
January 30th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Fast Retailing will become the largest apparel retailer the world has seen. They will put accelerate the demise of the Gap and Abercrombie, overtake Inditex and Hennes on a global basis and just explode across the US…not to mention further in Europe. Look at their roster of existing brands. They have the organizational capabilities, the vision, the manufacturing relationships, the discipline to remain focused and most of all…they know cool, and they do it very well.
January 30th, 2009 at 8:39 am
For those of us that travel the globe on a consistent basis we have all seen the power of retailers like H&M, Zara, and now Uniqlo. It was only a matter of time before they infiltrated the American market. As MR stated above, our current business model is dated. Kids do not want to wait 9 to 12 months for a trend. The retailers and manufacturers need to work together quickly and start figuring out a strategy to fast track product. Why do we continue with these trade shows and road reps? It just further delay’s the process. The answers are out there people and the brands that figure it out first will be the ones that come out on top in the next couple of years.
January 30th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Josh,
Nice. I had that video on my site at therookey.ning.com and the cost saving peice too a few weeks ago- we must use the same keywords to search?
Isaac– your right on. I have been following H and M for years and they are unbelievable and now American Apparel is doing the same. Buy some of that stock while you can!!! Its under $2. Crazy when they are the only company growing in this economy as they have less exposure to the credit, housing and car crisis. Check therookery.ning.com for some archives on H and M and fast fashion retailing. It will take our industry down if they don’t start making some changes quickly.
Cheers,
MR
therookery.ning.com
January 30th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Too funny…looks like we all nerd out on the same kind of stuff! I was reading something on OC Business and ended up linking into that Cost Reduction survey. I think I signed up for google alerts on Uniqlo and ended up seeing that vid.
Hadn’t checked therookery in a while, but just spent some time in there…good stuff.
I remember reading about ning in the “Beyond Blogs” issue of Businessweek that came about 5-6 months ago. Stoked to have you guys contributing to our comment boards.
It’s really reaffirming to see guys like yourself and Isaac on here sharing and discussing information. That’s what these are for, after all!
You guys should register and create profiles.
http://business.transworld.net/sf-forum/?&action=register
It takes about 20 seconds, totally painless. We’re really encouraging informed and engaging readers like yourselves to do it. And the best past is, in the famous words of Bluto from Animal House: “It don’t cost nothin’.”