Unique Position
Japanese apparel retailer UNIQLO jockeying to become the world’s Number 1 casual brand.
Susan H. Fishman

You’ll have to see for yourself: UNIQLO’s SoHo flagship store was under wraps this summer.

UNIQLO designs, manufactures, markets and sells casual wear, including jeans, T-shirts and accessories, such as belts, bags and hats, gloves and scarves in the winter.

You won’t find a visible logo on the clothes. UNIQLO believes that style in not something you buy and put on; it comes from within. That’s why the logo is modestly tucked away inside the garments. The SoHo location will feature unique products and styles only available at that location and will provide customers with a fresh and unparalleled shopping experience.

“Shopping malls are always looking for new blood, and because of our products and the value we can offer to consumers, I think it’s a great advantage for shopping mall owners to have us in their mix,” says Mike Kiser, marketing for UNIQLO USA, Inc.

The first UNIQLO store was established in 1984 in Hiroshima, Japan. Today, UNIQLO has grown to more than 730 stores worldwide, most of which are in Japan but are also located in the U.K., China, South Korea and the U.S. With three New Jersey mall stores (Menlo Park Mall in Edison, Rockaway Townsquare in Rockaway and Freehold Raceway Mall in Freehold), the company already has a temporary location set up at 486 Broadway in SoHo, which will remain open through the end of September until the opening of the flagship location.

The company has hired many of the industry’s top talents to design and manage the SoHo store. Kashiwa Sato has been named the flagship’s creative director and Masamichi Katayama the flagship’s interior designer/architect. Both are charged with improving upon the already highly successful UNIQLO shopping experience in Japan.

While Sato has garnered worldwide following for his work in Japan running his own creative studio, “Samurai,” UNIQLO’s SoHo global flagship is his first project in the U.S. His work is characterized by its powerful visual inventiveness and spans a wide range of genres and media. Katayama is the creative force behind the internationally acclaimed Japanese interior design firm Wonderwall. His work is hugely varied and he often creates bespoke fittings and furniture for individual projects.

UNIQLO’s store in New York’s SoHo will be located at 586 Broadway.

As a company, UNIQLO controls every stage of the creation of its products, from the fabric used to the stringent production control program at the factory to the display at the store. The retailer has collaborated with a number of international tastemakers to create an extensive graphic T-shirt collection. The collection features more than 200 graphic T-shirts curated by French retailer Colette, New York’s Staple Design and Germany’s Buro Destruct and includes T-shirts designed by renowned Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama, and Jo Hisaishi as well as up-and-coming artists from around the world including students from New York City’s Parsons School of Design.

With the flagship location in SoHo, UNIQLO is taking a groundbreaking turn in its long history. What started as a brand with international locations will become a truly international brand with the new store. The global flagship also marks a key milestone on UNIQLO’s journey to becoming the world’s Number 1 casual brand.

“The price and quality we offer is far superior to anyone out there,” says Kiser. We truly offer a great value at a great price. That’s how we became the Number 1 casual clothing company in Japan. We’re focused on the flagship store for the moment, but our goal is to reach $1 billion by 2010. The FAST RETAILING goal is to hit $10 billion by 2010 so, hopefully, 10 percent of that will come from the U.S.”