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The United Nations of Uniqlo

economist.com

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Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#61

Post by ksec »

victor106 wrote: post #8

Love the clothes Hate the work culture. I have a few friends who work for Uniqlo on the e-commerce team in the US. They all tell me that the work culture is horrible. It’s very Japanese. - Long unproductive hours gets your bosses appreciation. - Very sexist and male dominated. - They hate working remote even when it was absolutely necessary for the employee. - No respect for maternity related issues. Any company that…

Yes that is common across nearly All Japanese companies and that is why I have been critical of them in terms of global expansion. ( And especially in Tech )

But things are slowly changing though. Those that are younger generation ( Comparatively Speaking ) are in middle to higher management roles are more open and less hostile, so you start seeing a few Japanese companies picking up actual productivity increase and competing.

Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#62

Post by nindalf »

simias wrote: post #24
iamben wrote: post #15

Huge fan of Uniqlo, we're very lucky to have so many of them in London. The clothes tend to be the right side of 'fashionable', ie the cuts are modern and flattering, the price is very comparable with and often better than the other UK high street rivals, and most importantly the quality for the most part far surpasses everything else in the price bracket. It's (generally) far better than buying from Zara or H&M, whi…

I like that there are relatively few models and most of the variations are in colors. I hate shopping for clothes, the lack of choice is a feature for me. I had to buy some shorts the other day, Uniqlo had like three models and 5 colors, I spent less than 5 minutes in the store. And as other people point out in this thread, the quality is in general very decent for this price.

I read this comment and it's parent out to my spouse. She thought I had written both of them since I like Uniqlo for exactly these reasons. I have friends who work in tech who shop in Uniqlo because they feel the same. It's surprising how much of a monoculture we are.

Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#63

Post by nindalf »

ksec wrote: post #60
Joe8Bit wrote: post #49

I did some strategy work for a very large UK fashion retailer who's at the complete opposite end of the "don't chase fashion" market. Everyone in that industry is trying to emulate Uniqlo's margins and unit economics. This article talks about how they produce their fabric, but the thing they realised super early is how valuable _vertical integration_ can be in fashion retail. They own the end to end process, from raw…

Where I could read up more on it? Or are these sort of insider knowledge? ( If so, if you dont mind expand on it in a bit more detail )

The linked article is a good place to start. I thought it explained what makes Uniqlo tick pretty well.

Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#66

Post by Joe8Bit »

ksec wrote: post #60
Joe8Bit wrote: post #49

I did some strategy work for a very large UK fashion retailer who's at the complete opposite end of the "don't chase fashion" market. Everyone in that industry is trying to emulate Uniqlo's margins and unit economics. This article talks about how they produce their fabric, but the thing they realised super early is how valuable _vertical integration_ can be in fashion retail. They own the end to end process, from raw…

Where I could read up more on it? Or are these sort of insider knowledge? ( If so, if you dont mind expand on it in a bit more detail )

My knowledge is from consulting for fashion companies, so am not sure where to point you I'm afraid!

Most fashion retailers work with contract factories. They design a garment (or line of garments) and then put out a tender to a set of factories in their approved supplier list. The factories then bid to manufacture those garments. The decision-making criteria for the fashion companies vary but are usually some combination of quality on offer, price and 'time to store'/turnaround time. This tender process can happen dozens or hundreds of times a year for big, high turnover fast fashion retailers. Some of these retailers do have their own factories, but most don't.

The reason these retailers need to do this is because they're always trying to stay 'on trend' and have the latest, most fashionable items at the lowest cost. They're 'chasing the zeitgeist'.

Uniqlo, on the other hand, doesn't chase fashion in the same way. They have a stable set of core garments they always sell in predictable (and VERY large) quantities. This means they can negotiate longer term, much larger scale deals with manufacturers that work out MUCH cheaper for them. It also means they can go 'up the value chain' and manufacture the fabrics and patterns and tooling themselves, reducing cost even further.

Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#67

Post by [deleted] »

odiroot wrote: post #25

Uniqlo is my favourite brand. They have "skinny" sizes unlike most fast fashion brands. The clothes are also durable and have good, timeless style. Their winter undershirts are also great, super thin & breathable but plenty warm.

[deleted]

Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#68

Post by vorpalhex »

Joe8Bit wrote: post #66
ksec wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I could read up more on it? Or are these sort of insider knowledge? ( If so, if you dont mind expand on it in a bit more detail )

My knowledge is from consulting for fashion companies, so am not sure where to point you I'm afraid! Most fashion retailers work with contract factories. They design a garment (or line of garments) and then put out a tender to a set of factories in their approved supplier list. The factories then bid to manufacture those garments. The decision-making criteria for the fashion companies vary but are usually some combin…

You should write a longform on this.

Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#69

Post by ipnon »

Joe8Bit wrote: post #49

I did some strategy work for a very large UK fashion retailer who's at the complete opposite end of the "don't chase fashion" market. Everyone in that industry is trying to emulate Uniqlo's margins and unit economics. This article talks about how they produce their fabric, but the thing they realised super early is how valuable _vertical integration_ can be in fashion retail. They own the end to end process, from raw…

In general, the less of a monopoly you have, i.e. the more competition you have, the greater the benefits of vertical integration.

Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo

#70

Post by darcien »

ksec wrote: post #59
iamben wrote: post #15

Huge fan of Uniqlo, we're very lucky to have so many of them in London. The clothes tend to be the right side of 'fashionable', ie the cuts are modern and flattering, the price is very comparable with and often better than the other UK high street rivals, and most importantly the quality for the most part far surpasses everything else in the price bracket. It's (generally) far better than buying from Zara or H&M, whi…

My problem with Uniqlo is that they changes cuttings, Materials and some other minor details all while showing the same label. So they will look 95% the same, even material is pretty much the same.... but it is still "different". ( The Item code will be different ) Not to mention Uniqlo's quality depends on its country of origin or where they are sold. Uniqlo in Japan is really a bar higher than Uniqlo around the wor…

Ahh, I never paid attention to the code, I guess they would "update" the design over the time?

In my country, Indonesia, I would guess the quality bar from Uniqlo would be pretty low since it's in SEA, but compared to local brands, I think the stuffs Uniqlo makes are really good, I loved shopping in Uniqlo.

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