[A Sip of Books] From a Rural Tailor Shop to a Global 'LifeWear' Company

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This is the story of Uniqlo's successes and failures, written based on direct interviews with Tadashi Yanai, the founder who grew Uniqlo into a global 'LifeWear' brand, and those around him. It traces the context of how Uniqlo grew into a global fashion company 40 years after opening its first store in Hiroshima. It vividly conveys the journey of how Tadashi Yanai transformed a mining town's men's clothing store inherited from his father into a world-class enterprise. You can catch a glimpse of the management philosophy that "we don't sell what we make, but make what sells."

In 1994, when Uniqlo was rapidly growing, Yanai announced the "Three Promises." One of them was, "If customers are not satisfied with the product, we will, in principle, accept returns and exchanges within three months of purchase even without a receipt." This unconditional return policy faced fierce opposition from management, but the phrase "Build trust step by step" was something his father, Hitoshi, repeatedly emphasized to his son as the "mindset of business."
- pp. 73-74, from Chapter 1. The Lazybones: How the Lethargic Youth Awakened - The Teachings of Chizuko Kojima

From the start, Yanai thought it was a waste of time to worry about problems that couldn’t be solved. If you share your worries from the beginning, then next, without overthinking, you can gradually organize the "doable tasks." Eventually, you might see the tunnel’s exit. Through the turmoil of senior employees leaving, Yanai internalized this way of thinking. - p. 98, from Chapter 2. The Dark Age: Ten Years of Struggling in Hiding - Self-Analysis Written in a Notebook

Once Yanai found the "gold mine" that was Uniqlo and it began to gain momentum, he thought about shifting to a completely different business model from the early days when Uniqlo was still in its infancy. It was the path from a "casual wear warehouse" that gathered clothes from various domestic and international companies to a full-fledged SPA (Specialty retailer of Private label Apparel). - p. 150, from Chapter 3. The Gold Mine: Uniqlo Born in the Back Alleys - Meeting with Jimmy Lai

Hitoshi always opposed his son expanding the store. He believed it was enough to root the business locally and operate within his own line of sight. If that could support his family and a few employees, that was sufficient. His mindset was fundamentally different from his son’s, who began aiming for "Uniqlo to be the best in the world."
- p. 215, from Chapter 4. Clash: Ambition Ununderstood - Farewell to Father

"When you try something new, failure is inevitable. But failure is not the problem. (What matters) is what you gain from failure. As a manager, you should think about the causes of failure and consider what to do next time to avoid it. So, if there is no failure, it means you haven’t even started."
- p. 253, from Chapter 5. Leap: Tokyo Expansion and the Fleece Boom - Most Fail

It’s really simple but not easy to put into practice. The flagship store strategy carries significant risks. Building huge stores in the bustling areas of major cities worldwide requires corresponding capital, and gathering all products in one place means carrying clothes that don’t sell well. Naturally, inventory risk is high. How to build supply chains separately for well-selling and poorly-selling clothes is a key part that requires the capabilities of an SPA, which assumes full purchase.
- p. 368, from Chapter 8. Breakthrough: The ‘Question’ That Brought Global Expansion - Hint from the Founder of The Limited in the U.S.

Sato confesses, "I always had such Zen-like dialogues with Mr. Yanai." At the time, the urgent branding strategy was "Let’s fully promote Japan at the New York Soho store," but their conversations looked beyond immediate matters. The discussions led to questions and answers about "What is Uniqlo’s clothing?"
- pp. 385-386, from Chapter 8. Breakthrough: The ‘Question’ That Brought Global Expansion - What Is Clothing?

"The headquarters deprived stores of the ability to think. Stores couldn’t take initiative and became store managers in name only. Such situations were widespread. (Otherwise) they were reprimanded by superiors. It was similar nationwide. I wondered if this was the limit of Uniqlo." - p. 422, from Chapter 9. Contradiction: Questions Raised by ‘Black Company’ Criticism - Store Managers in Name Only

"‘Our competitors have changed.’ That’s the only conclusion. Until now, it was all about chasing after ZARA and H&M lined up on the same main street. Of course, they remain huge rivals. But the world is changing faster than expected. There is no guarantee that a new competitor is right in front of us now. In fact, it’s more likely that none exist at all."
- p. 491, from Chapter 11. Evolution: Destruction and Creation into an Information Manufacturing Retailer - ‘Our Competitors Have Changed’

Uniqlo | Written by Takashi Sugimoto | Translated by Semi Park | 544 pages | 30,000 KRW