With the aim of achieving business transactions worth 1 trillion Yen, apparel giant Uniqlo Co. and Tokyo-based fabric and textile maker Toray Industries Inc. have agreed upon another five-year strategic partnership as in next five years they will facilitate globalization to increase manufacturing and digitization to optimize production processes. Both the companies will expand production sites and capabilities in China and South-East Asia, as well as utilize available data to analyse customers’ needs to bring them what they want faster. The partnership between both the companies is 16-year-old and they have jointly developed new products including Uniqlo’s signature brands like Heattech and Airism.
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The first five-year partnership, signed in 2006, achieved business worth about ¥ 250 billion and now it is their third five-year agreement, and they aim to achieve a combined ¥ 1 trillion in transactions. Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo said, “We will become the world’s No. 1 brand with the partnership with Toray. Two companies can innovate by combining Toray’s production power and R&D expertise with Uniqlo’s merchandising and marketing skills.”
Uniqlo has 841 stores in Japan and 798 stores abroad while Toray Group has 98 subsidiary companies in Japan and 155 companies abroad. With global sales of ¥ 1.68 trillion (US $ 13.88 billion) for the 2015 fiscal year ending on August 31, 2015, Uniqlo is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.
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Furthermore, after the terror attack of ISIS in Paris, all the Uniqlo stores in Paris are now open. Some of the stores were temporarily closed but have now been reopened. Fast Retailing Co., parent company of Uniqlo also runs France-based Comptor des Cotonniers and Prince Tam Tan, which sell outfits and lingerie.
