At a Tokyo kids' sports event, Olympic sprinter Shingo Suetsugu graded Ichiro's running across ten categories and landed on 59 out of 100, one point shy of passing. The baseball legend turned his latest near-miss into a perfectly on-brand joke.
Once struggling to gain a foothold in Western markets, Japan's Uniqlo has surged to 47th on Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2025 ranking. With overseas revenue exceeding 56% and Europe and North America now level with China, we break down the strategies behind this turnaround: from outfitting Sweden's Olympic team to its LifeWear philosophy and differentiation from ZARA and H&M. What can other Japanese brands learn from Uniqlo's global conquest?
With Fast Retailing (Uniqlo) at a market cap of roughly 27 trillion yen and its domestic business past one trillion yen in revenue, a single brand holds nearly 10% of Japan's apparel market. Explore how legacy brands like Onward and Sanyo Shokai are pivoting to survive in this new era.
Workwear built for Japanese construction sites now sells as everyday fashion. Workman's shift toward general shoppers, and what performance, price, and design each contributed to the boom.
UNIQLO's Pokemon 30th anniversary UT collection went on sale March 23, 2026, using the original watercolour artwork from the 1996 games untouched. Ten designs in all, five men's and five kids', covering the starters (Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle), Pikachu, Snorlax, Gengar, Eevee and more. ¥1,990 men's, ¥990 kids', with matching prints across both lines.