Global apparel retailer UNIQLO has announced the appointment of Clare Waight Keller as Creative Director.
The retailer said Keller has had an exceptional career with a number of leading fashion houses, and in September 2023 took on the role of designer for the UNIQLO : C womenswear project. While continuing in this capacity with UNIQLO : C, she will also lead the UNIQLO mainline collection, including menswear, from 2024 Fall/Winter.
Keller is a renowned British designer known for bringing a highly original sense to modern elegance and taking high fashion houses around the world to critical acclaim under her leadership. She was named one of the most influential people in the world by TIME 100 in 2019.
Tadashi Yanai, Fast Retailing Chairman, President and CEO, said: “We are proud to welcome Ms. Clare Waight Keller as the Creative Director of UNIQLO. Along with her exceptional originality and wide-ranging experience, I have been impressed by her excellent sense of balance, which never forgets the perspective of the consumer. I believe that with her, we will be able to evolve LifeWear, the ultimate everyday wear, into something even richer and create clothes that will make our customers even happier.”
Yukihiro Katsuta, Fast Retailing Group Senior Executive Officer and Head of R&D for UNIQLO, said: “Clare Waight Keller’s work with UNIQLO : C has convinced me that she is one of the few creators in the world able to achieve a high level of balance between creation and merchandising. I believe that the experience, knowledge, and skills that she has amassed, based on a keen aesthetic sense and intellect, will greatly expand the world of UNIQLO LifeWear.”
Clare Waight Keller, UNIQLO Creative Director, said: “Working with UNIQLO over these past two years, I have been hugely impressed by their innovation and ability to create exceptional products. Working with the team, I became deeply immersed in the brand and the future they are creating. It is very exciting and an honor for me to be involved in the evolution of LifeWear.”
UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing Group, the others being GU, Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand and Helmut Lang. With global sales of approximately 2.77 trillion yen for the 2023 fiscal year ending August 31, 2023 (US $18.92 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2023 rate of $1 = 146.2 yen), Fast Retailing is one of the world’s largest apparel retail companies, and UNIQLO is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.
UNIQLO has a total of more than 2,400 UNIQLO stores across the world, including Japan, Asia, Europe and North America. The total number of stores across Fast Retailing’s brands is now close to 3,600.
A previous Retail Insider story said the Japanese fashion retailer is continuing with its Canadian store expansion with four locations announced for fall 2024, and an additional fifth store confirmed. It’s part of a bigger growth plan for the company which entered Canada with its first stores in 2016.
Recently, it announced that it would open three stores in Ontario, as well as one in British Columbia. The three Ontario stores will be either in or close to Toronto, and will include locations at CF Sherway Gardens in Toronto, Heartland Town Centre in Mississauga, and Bramalea City Centre in Brampton. UNIQLO also announced that it would open another store in the BC Lower Mainland at the Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley.
The CF Sherway Gardens Uniqlo store will move into a retail space vacated by retailer Laura, according to sources, as well as adjacent spaces to create a store spanning about 15,000 square feet or so. It’s a size that appears to be a sweet spot for the retailer for its non-flagship locations in Canada.
Heartland Town Centre will be UNIQLO’s first Canadian store to open in a power centre, making it rather unique. Heartland Town Centre is considered to be one of the country’s top big-box power centres in terms of retail offerings and consumer spending dollars. Uniqlo is taking a retail space formerly occupied by Designer Depot, according to lease plans.
Bramalea City Centre is an enclosed super regional shopping centre in Brampton, and Uniqlo’s location in the mall will be 12,167 square feet according to a lease plan.
UNIQLO will also be opening a fifth Canadian store in September. Its website states that it will open a store at Royalmount in Montreal.
In the fall of 2016, it opened two stores in Toronto at the CF Toronto Eaton Centre and at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, kicking off a national expansion that has seen Uniqlo become an important player in the fast-fashion space in Canada. The company currently operates 23 stores in Canada, a number that will increase to 28 by the end of the year.
