I have all my clothes from Uniqlo except for shoes, wallet and a bag for 5 years now. The reason is I don’t have to think hard about it. And I can restock worn out items pretty reliably (although I wish they did not change items year by year at all).
The United Nations of Uniqlo
81–90 of 95 posts
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
These deficiencies in Japanese education are self-reinforcing; people who are unaware of these things will not pressure the state to include them in the curriculum. Of course, I'm sure SK doesn't talk much about their greatest moral embarrassments.
Similarly, we don't teach about the Canadian Indian residential school system in high school, and non-native Canadians have a difficult time empathizing with the state of reserves. Does any country do a good job of this?
Well they sure teach it now, although not when I was in school.
I'm not sure what your point is. We should accept atrocities because everyone is doing it?
I'm surprised people here love uniqlo so much. They use Uygher slave labor.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#83Love 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…
It's an interesting question. Do multinationals adopt to local cultures or do they try to set the tone locally? The example you gave goes one way, what about the other way? Should an American company operating in Japan follow local culture (e.g. some of the things listed above)?
I don't know what the right answer is, but I've worked in Asia as part of a multinational company and always felt weird about requiring pictures for job applications. There were also comments regarding female candidates that would definitely be considered unacceptable in the US but is normal there.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
These deficiencies in Japanese education are self-reinforcing; people who are unaware of these things will not pressure the state to include them in the curriculum. Of course, I'm sure SK doesn't talk much about their greatest moral embarrassments.
Similarly, we don't teach about the Canadian Indian residential school system in high school, and non-native Canadians have a difficult time empathizing with the state of reserves. Does any country do a good job of this?
Germany does a good job of owning their past it seems like.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#85I have stumbled on Uniqlo while around Tokyo. I was surprised how cheap it is, minimalist the styles were, and how very good the material/quality is. I have been mainly purchasing from Celio, Mango, H&M (ie: the European brands). My experience is that the clothes will last less than a year before becoming too washed to be wear. Clothes I bought from Uniqlo still look very good now 1.5 year later. Looks like they'll l…
So the general impression on Reddit is: Zara, the most fashion forward, quality so-so. H&M, moderately fashion-forward, quality hit-or-miss. Uniqlo, moderately fashion-forward, quality above average.
My Uniqlo pieces generally last at least 3 years with weekly wear. That's not bad at all. In the past decade, I've thrown out maybe 2 Uniqlo shirts due to fraying. Fast-fashion produces a lot of environmental waste, so quality matters.
They're the IKEA of clothing.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#86The problem with wearing uniqlo in japan, is you will always pass someone wearing the same things as you.
This might be a feature for some people, not a bug.
True. In America, it's a comedic trope -- when two people wearing the same clothes encounter each other, both of them feel the need to go home and change. It's kinda funny.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely didn't cover COINTELPRO but the Philippines and Wounded Knee were definitely covered. We rarely got past 1960 so most of the more recent US actions were uncovered.
Honestly, I'm jealous. For so much of my life I was deeply skeptical of history as a field of study. It seemed arbitrary and useless. It turned out that what I'd seen of the subject was a bogus selective narrative carefully constructed to make me ignore the fact that the polity to which I am subject has been at war against non-white people for centuries. I probably should have been smart enough to figure this out ear…
Don't worry, its going hard the other direction, based on what the average school teacher says who's in their 20s and 30s.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#88The problem with wearing uniqlo in japan, is you will always pass someone wearing the same things as you.
Most affordable clothing in japan is of the boring uniqlo style unfortunately. But on the other hand, many japanese when your walking around in tokyo don't really look that 'uniqlo boring' either. Way more well dressed people there than a typical american city.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#89I worked in the apparel industry for many years; From what I remember, Uniqlo focused obsessively on quality control and unit economics.
They have very few fabrications that are shared across many styles so they can order an entire mill's supply for a season in some cases. In this industry segment, materials costs can be ~70% of total production cost so this make an enormous impact.
They outsource to factories outside of Japan, but they will send in their own operations team to do production line setup and training. Their tolerances were very tight and QC process rigorous. If you walk into a factory, you will see Uniqlo branded posters up everywhere with "10 rules of quality control" and the like.
My former employer really prized hiring the same factories that Uniqlo used because we knew the QC was going to be a step above and the unit costs optimized.
Re: The United Nations of Uniqlo
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Any company that would like to see itself become multinational has to adapt to local cultures Good luck on that. General consensus out here in Asia is that western people are lazy ( but not everyone feels this way! Some people consider westerners to be lazy and nice..) Traditional Asian culture, this is my own Non controversial opinion coming, values hard work. A bunch of people I know who work in Science park in T…
"How's that working out for you?" 'Dominating' doesn't seem like the appropriate word to apply to Japan right now? From Wikipedia: Japan's asset price bubble collapse in 1991 led to a period of economic stagnation known as the "lost decade", sometimes now extended as the "lost 20 years." From 1995 to 2007, GDP fell from $5.33 trillion to $4.36 trillion in nominal terms. Japan today has the highest ratio of public deb…
I don’t think long hours are an advantage.
Honestly, it’s a cultural divide which probably won’t go away.
I know someone who works at a German owned branch for a manufacturer in Taiwan. The previous Taiwanese head guy got let go because for years they would be very behind schedule for deliveries. Like months behind.
So new big boss is a German. He gave a big talk to introduce himself to the factory. One of his main points was to reward productivity, KPI shouldn’t be the only metric, whatever. He recommended a book called The Lazy Project Manager and emphasized that this is the mindset he wants everyone to be in.
Funny thing is, the Taiwanese engineers kind of zoned out on everything he said but perked up at the word “lazy” in the book title. To cut to the chase, the factory thinks the new boss is lazy.
The hard working mentality is very deeply ingrained out here.