Uniqlo and other Fast Retailing brands eye China

Japanese fashion company Fast Retailing announced on

Monday that it plans to expand its international presence in China not only for its core brand Uniqlo but also for its four other brands: budget apparel brand GU, French fashion brand Comptoir des Cotonniers, lingerie brand Princesse tam.tam and casualwear brand PLST (plus T), a branch of US fashion label Theory.

As part of the new Uniqlo Shanghai flagship store – set to open in the fall – the other brands will also be sold in their own designated areas. A total of 71,000 square feet inside the 86,000 square feet multi-brand shopping complex will be occupied by Uniqlo; 11,000 square foot by GU and the rest by the other three Fast Retailing brands. All of them will be entering the Chinese mainland for the first time.

“We are very pleased that GU, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam and PLST will open their first stores in Shanghai. We are committed to offer a pleasant shopping experience at each of these stores and we welcome customers who are living and visiting Shanghai," said Pang Ning, Executive Vice President of the Fast Retailing Group and CEO of Fast Retailing (China) Trading Co., Ltd.

No more than a few days ago, Uniqlo opened its first store in Indonesia on Saturday. The 29,000 square foot store is located on Jakarta’s busy Lotte Shopping Avenue and is a joint venture between Uniqlo and the Misubishi Corporation.

As reported earlier, Uniqlo will also open its first two stores in Dhaka, Bangladesh at the beginning of next month. This is an initiative together with the non-profit Grameen Healthcare Trust to supply clothes that fulfil the needs of Bangladeshi customers and are sourced from local materials only.