Uniqlo’s sister brand GU aims to take on US, Europe

Building the fashion label’s presence overseas part of Fast Retailing’s global push

TOKYO Fast Retailing, the Uniqlo brand, wants to ramp up the presence of its other fashion label GU in the US and Europe, as Asia's largest apparel maker accelerates efforts to become a global retailer with 10 trillion yen (S$89.3 billion) in annual sales.

"GU has the same potential as Uniqlo," chief financial officer Takeshi Okazaki said in an interview.

"We can generate as many GU stores as there are Uniqlo ones." The brand, pronounced as the letters G and U, sounds the same as the word jiyu, or freedom, in Japanese. While GU, with slightly lower prices than Uniqlo and clothes aimed at a younger clientele, has a solid presence in Japan, it is less known in other major markets.

Building its presence abroad is part of Fast Retailing founder Tadashi Yanai's push to "become a true global player", by first doubling annual profit to five trillion yen within a few years.

This is set to include about 700 billion yen from GU, Mr Okazaki said. The brand has already made an initial foray into North America, opening its first pop-up store in New York City's SoHo district in 2022.