Uniqlo has big plans for Canada: ‘We’re going to keep expanding’

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Japanese retailer Uniqlo opened its fifth store in Metro Vancouver on Oct. 25.

Located at Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley, the 15,000-square-foot store took over a portion of the cavernous retail space previously occupied by Nordstrom Rack.

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The new location marks the fourth retail opening for the company in Canada this fall, including Montreal, Que., and Brampton, Ont.

“We feel there is a lot of opportunity in Canada,” says Yuki Katsuta, global head of research and development. “North America has one of the biggest markets for us, for the future. So we’re going to keep expanding.”

By the end of 2024, Uniqlo plans to have 29 stores open across the country.

Speaking during Paris Fashion Week in October, where the company celebrated its 40th retail anniversary with an exhibition titled Uniqlo The Art and Science of LifeWear: What Makes Life Better? in the Pavillon Vendôme, Katsuta explained how the retailer’s approach to innovation in textiles — such as its warming Heattech and cooling AIRism — make it a perfect fit for Canada’s mercurial weather.

“Seasonality is a good thing for our business,” Katsuta says.

Uniqlo was founded in Yamaguchi, Japan, as a textile manufacturer in 1949. The first Uniqlo store was opened in Fukuromachi, Japan, in 1984. Owned by parent company Fast Retailing, Uniqlo is the main pillar in a portfolio that includes offerings such as Comptoir des Cotonniers, Helmut Lang, Princesse Tam-Tam, and Theory.

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With an emphasis on innovation, affordability and a timeless-over-trendy appeal, its wares have proved popular as the company’s retail reach has expanded to more than 2,400 stores worldwide.

“We always try to emphasize a couple of things,” Katsuta explains. “One, we always try to create our products based on our customers’ demands. And, two, we always pay very detailed attention. Number three, our product has to work as component wear, so that it can mix with everything. And, the most important message for us, is we have to provide with the highest quality within our price point.”

In Canada, that price range has clothing and accessories for men, women and kids priced from $5.90 for socks to a full-length, RDS-certified down parka for $249.90.

Tapping in to designer collaborations since 2009, when the company teamed up with German designer Jill Sander on a collection, Uniqlo boasts an impressive roster of designer collaborators including Jonathan Anderson, Christophe Lemaire and Clare Waight Keller.

“These people help to bring new ideas of improving the core product,” John C Jay, president of global creative, says of the fashion insider influence.

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Waight Keller, a celebrated British fashion designer who created the wedding dress for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, joined the company as its creative director this fall following a successful design collaboration called Uniqlo:C. Previously creating for Givenchy, Pringle of Scotland and Chloé, fans expect her influence to bring an elevated appeal to the company’s creations.

Despite its name fast retailing — a moniker Jay notes is sometimes misaligned with ‘fast fashion’ — Katsuta says the retailer takes a methodical approach to its motto of “simple made better.”

“We are not fast, because our process has a lot of processes,” Katsuta says. “From the development of yarn, to the development of fabrics. Sometimes it takes one year of development. After that, once we make a sample, usually we do fittings four or five times. It’s a lot of work and a lot of time.”

The multi-step procedure, he notes, stood out to Waight Keller when she joined the company’s ranks.

“She was surprised by how many times we did fitting sessions,” Katsuta says. “She said, maybe Uniqlo is doing fittings more than luxury companies. It was great to hear that because that tells us how much we pay attention to our products.”

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The company creates 1.3 billion garments a year, and founder and CEO Tadashi Yanai says textile innovation is essential in the company’s long-term plan.

“People tend to believe that huge number of pieces is often associated with negative image, but that’s not the case,” Yanai says. “We try to make a difference through the fabrication, down to the yarn.”

Yanai points to cotton and wool, two prominent natural fibres used in clothing, as being less sustainable than people might think because of land use, resource waste and methane gas production.

Working with Japanese material manufacturer Toray Industries, Inc., Fast Retailing is pioneering the use of synthetic fibres that Yanai says are made using cutting-edge technology and molecular science.

“We need them both — natural fibre and synthetic fibre,” Yanai says, pointing to a new Heattech material that blends cashmere and synthetic fibre together. “This gives you extra warmth thanks to the fusion of natural fibre and synthetic. It’s not either or, but a combination of both.

“And this was enabled thanks to the nanotechnology to create a very, very thin layer of yarn. The yarn itself has a very different composition from conventional yarn.”

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After more than six decades working in the clothing industry, Yanai says innovation and changing consumer outlooks on clothing will be two major factors in fashion.

“Clothing itself is now changing across the world. People tend to cherish and value more of the everyday clothing than the clothing for special occasions,” Yanai says. “We want to deliver the ultimate and quintessential everyday wear.”

What makes life better? Roger Federer and Clare Waight Keller weigh in

During a panel at Paris Fashion Week, Uniqlo posed the question: What makes life better?

Directing the inquiry toward two heavyweights for the retailer — creative director Clare Waight Keller and ambassador and tennis great Roger Federer — they each offered thoughts on the topic.

Federer: “I think sports makes life, to some degree, better. Getting out there and putting some oxygen into the brain and meet up with same-minded people in my world, with tennis, has been incredible. Of course, I would say my family. I have four wonderful children … so my life is all around making sure my kids are doing well. And I think it’s also a matter of how you go through life, with a measure of respect and kindness.”

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Waight Keller: “Personally, for me, because I’m in the creative side of the industry, but also my life is full of thinking about things creatively, for me it is about that curiosity of constantly looking and searching and really being inspired. I think inspiration brings us joy. Inspiration makes other people appreciate things. And also, it makes the churn. It keeps things moving, it keeps things developing. … That is a part of life that is really enjoyable for me and really special.”

Aharris@postmedia.com

Postmedia News was a guest of Uniqlo in France. The brand neither reviewed nor approved this article.

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