Dive Brief:
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Tokyo-based Fast Retaling Co.’s Uniqlo brand is changing up its “Made for All” approach, altering 10% of its products' designs for the U.S. market. They hope to provide bigger and more diverse sizes, the company said Tuesday.
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Uniqlo’s expansion into the U.S. is key to its ambitions to overtake Gap, H&M, and Zara to become the world’s largest clothing retailer.
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The company also said it would offer lower prices in some Asian cities — half of its 1,300 stores worldwide are in Asia, especially in its home country Japan — to accommodate lower incomes.
Dive Insight:
Uniqlo is moving to ensure the success of its American ambitions, noting that the diversity of ethnicities in the U.S. means a wider range of sizes of people. That's behind these efforts to provide a wider selection of sizes, especially larger sizes, with special attention to women’s pieces. The retailer is moving quickly into the U.S., with plans to add 20 to 30 stores each year until it reaches its goal of 100 American stores.The company already has 17 U.S. stores and an American website.
In addition to individualizing its sizes, something the company has never done, Uniqlo will also lower prices in some Asian cities where with lower income levels. It’s easy to see that Uniqlo is serious about its stated ambitions to become the world’s top clothing retailer.
