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Fast Retailing Co Ltd

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Macro factors, particularly in the US and Europe, have created a somewhat challenging environment for retailers in 2014. Many succumbed to heavy promotional activity in order to keep sales up. Subsequently, however, margins and earnings were hit. As a result, a large number of firms were forced to carry out strategic reviews on their business operations in order to turn their businesses around. Here are some of those that just-style has reported on this year.

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Uniqlo, operated by Japanese apparel giant Fast Retailing, has confirmed plans to hike its prices this year, blaming a weaker yen. The country's biggest clothing store chain may be hoping the move will help restore profit margins.

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Premium Supima cotton, musician Pharrell Williams and New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) are spearheading the drive by Japan's Fast Retailing Co to expand its Uniqlo chain in the US market.

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Despite another challenging year for retailers in 2013, international expansion, support for workers in the clothing supply chain, and innovative merchandise were on the list of accomplishments for some. However, others were forced to enter administration amid increased competition.

Luen Thai Holdings is Hong Kong's largest listed garment firm, with 34,000 employees, revenues of around US$1bn and a flagship business that produces over 80m garments a year - as well as footwear and bags - from production bases in China, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Cambodia. In the first of two articles based on a conversation with just-style managing editor Leonie Barrie at the recent Prime Source Forum in Hong Kong, CEO Henry Tan calls for industry-wide collaboration in a bid to increase efficiency and offset rising costs in the apparel supply chain.

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Fast Retailing Co today (14 December) opens its first Uniqlo brand casualwear store in France, making this the fifth overseas market for the firm following the UK, China, South Korea and the US. The Japanese company’s creative team talks to Michael Fitzpatrick about their mission to build a new urban cool image for its global flagships.

Japanese casual clothing brand Uniqlo is to open its first store in India next year in a move that marks the Fast Retailing-owned label's entry into South Asia.

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Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, has become the latest company to sign up to Canopy's policy that commits brands to stop sourcing the raw material for their viscose and rayon textiles from ancient and endangered forests.

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Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has posted an increase in both earnings and revenue for the first half of fiscal 2018, booking much higher-than-expected first-half revenue and profit gains.

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Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai is to step down from his role as president of Fast Retailing upon turning 70 in around two years time, but will continue as chairman in order to handle corporate governance and advise on how to proceed in the future.

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Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has posted record levels of revenue, operating profit and net profit in fiscal 2017, booking a 148.2% hike in net profit for the year.

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Uniqlo employees in Canada have filed an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to form a union after complaining of stressful and unfair working conditions at the company's Toronto Eaton Centre store.

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Higher sales and a foreign exchange gain helped boost earnings for Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, in the first nine months of the year.

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Parisian fashion house Christian Dior, US sporting goods behemoth Nike, and Spanish clothing giant Inditex have all topped Forbes' 2017 The World's Biggest Public Companies ranking.

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Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has posted an increase in both earnings and revenue for the first half of fiscal 2017, booking a 106.7% leap in profit for the period.

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UK retailer Marks & Spencer has topped a new benchmark ranking that aims to incentivise companies in a race to the top for the moral and commercial advantages of a strong human rights record.

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After pressuring Fast Retailing to publish the supplier list for its Uniqlo casual clothing chain, activists are now urging the Japanese corporation to settle wage and severance payments at a former factory in Indonesia.

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Japanese retailer Fast Retailing has published the names and locations of the 146 factories that manufacture garments for its Uniqlo casual clothing chain, in a bid to increase transparency across its supply chain.

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Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain and Asia's largest fashion retailer, has confirmed to just-style it is preparing to make its supplier list public within 2017.

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Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has posted an increase in both earnings and revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2017, booking a 45.1% leap in profit for the period.

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Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain and Asia's largest fashion retailer, has established its first facility to research and develop new fabrics, fit and finishes for its denim products.

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Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain and Asia's largest fashion retailer, has invested JPY400m (US$3.8m) in a joint venture with specialist knit machinery manufacturer Shima Seiki Mfg, in a move designed to increase production of its Wholegarment seamless knitwear.

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Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain and Asia's biggest global fashion retailer, has announced its GU casual fashion brand will launch in Hong Kong next year in a move the company says is a "huge step forward" for the unit's global expansion.

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Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain and Asia's biggest global fashion brand, saw earnings slump in its last fiscal on foreign exchange losses and impairment costs related to its Uniqlo Japan and US stores. 

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Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain and Asia's biggest global fashion brand, has delayed plans to eliminate perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) from its products and supply chain.

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Casual clothing chain Uniqlo is preparing to enter the Canadian market, with dates set for the opening of its first two stores in Toronto.

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Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has cut its earnings guidance for the third time this year as a result of the stronger yen and a fall in profits for the first nine months of the year.

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Inditex, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) and Benetton have been praised by environmental activist group Greenpeace for being on track to clean up their chains, while Victoria's Secret, Esprit and sports brands Nike and LiNing are lagging behind the field.

One of the most popular reports published on just-style each year is our annual briefing on apparel industry issues to watch in the year ahead. And for 2015 we have again asked leading executives for their feedback on the challenges and opportunities likely to emerge.

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just-style turned the spotlight on Ethiopia last week, marking the release of a new research report looking at the country's emerging apparel and textile industry with additional insights into its rising potential for sourcing garments.