Classic Timberland Boot | Source: Timberland

Timberland to be taken over by VF Corporation in $2bn deal (Independent)
“VF Corporation… said outdoor clothing was among the fastest-growing apparel categories… ‘The Timberland brand is synonymous with high quality outdoor footwear and apparel… the company had been number one on its acquisition hit list for years.”

Clothes: Too much, too cheap (Independent)
“Blame the so-called democratisation of fashion if you will… consumers can ‘get the Marc Jacobs look’ only hours after the designer’s biannual New York show has taken place, and this despite the fact that the prototype… won’t go on sale until almost half a year later.”

Lululemon: Momentum Continues (Financial Post)
“Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s strong showing in the first quarter came despite unfavourable weather in Canada and the United States, lean inventories and a transition in its e-commerce business.”

Fash File: Umit Benan, Pitti Uomo, Rodarte (IHT)
“When Umit Benan won the Who Is On Next’ Pitti Imagine award in Florence two years ago… [the] designer was struggling to make an impact… But now this creative force is being nurtured at Trussardi, where Umit will be named this week both men’s and women’s designer.”

Alexandre Plokhov’s Poetic Elegance (Dazed Digital)
“Back in the early part of the new millennium when Hedi Slimane was making his indelible mark on menswear with his work at Dior Homme, a New York based Russian émigré called Alexandre Plokhov was creating a quiet revolution of his own with his cult label, Cloak… After a spell designing for Versace Homme, Plokhov is back with his own eponymous label.”

Dion Lee S/S 2012 at Sydney Opera House | Photo: BoF

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian fashion has an image problem. When I mentioned to friends that I was thinking of attending Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney, the reaction ranged from raised eyebrows to incredulous laughter. Others quipped that the sum total of Australia’s contribution to global fashion could be distilled down to Ugg boots and swimwear.

“Surely you’d only be going to take some time in the Australian sun?” they asked. But as my schedule only allowed for three days in the Australian fashion capital, there would be little time to sit on the beach and anyway, the summer sun in Sydney had already given way to crisp Autumn evenings and intermittent rain showers.

It was an email exchange with Tommy Ton and Susie Bubble that finally convinced me to get on the 24 hour flight from London to spend a few days immersed in Sydney’s fashion scene. Both Tommy and Susie were planning to go back for their second season, and highly recommended that I come along too.

In Susie’s words, there is “plenty to see that’s interesting…it’s good to see a developed fashion week outside of the big four and definitely worth going to just to see how Southern hemisphere fashion works!”

Indeed, that turned out to be the most interesting question of all, and it was well worth the time to get there.

In multiple ways, it seems the cards are stacked against the Australian fashion industry. Apart from the fact that Sydney is more than 20 hours away by plane from all of the major fashion capitals, the value of the Australian dollar has increased by over 100 percent in the last ten years, from 53 to 106 Australian cents to the US dollar. This has made products exported from Australia very expensive, though raw materials and services from abroad have also therefore become much cheaper, an important consideration in a country where local apparel manufacturing is scarce.

But, the complexities continue. Unlike other secondary fashion markets like Brazil, India and China which have huge local populations, Australia has only 23 million people. To build a sizeable fashion business therefore, international growth is imperative. However, the fact that Australia is seasonally opposite means that in order for designers to build global businesses, they have to find some way of catering to both their local market at home, as well as the large Northern hemisphere markets in Europe, North America, China and Japan.

THE POWER OF TRANSEASONAL PRODUCTS

With all of these challenges, I began to wonder if it was possible for any Australian fashion designer to build a global business. All it took was one conversation with Nicky Zimmermann to prove me wrong.

More than twenty years ago, Zimmermann and her sister began designing swimwear, and shortly thereafter began showing at fashion week in Australia. Unlike the straightforward swimsuits which are ubiquitous in a country where the lifestyle is built around beach culture, Ms. Zimmermann has specifically sought to associate her product with fashion, and has built a global following for a core product that is “transeasonal.”

“We sell swimwear pretty much the whole year round,” she said to me as we sat down for lunch in the chi chi food court of the brand new Westfield shopping mall, where the brand has opened its latest Australian store. “We knew from the very first season that we would have a seasonal issue, but we always linked it to fashion which has now enabled us to add our own ready-to-wear line,” she explained. Zimmermann and other Australian brands like LOVER also split their collections, targeting part to the local market and part to the markets in the Northern hemisphere.

The strategy has worked wonders. Zimermann now has more than A$25 million in annual sales, 14 stores across Australia, and plans to open its first international outpost on Los Angeles’ Robertson Boulevard later this year.

YOUNG CREATIVE GENIUSES

But lest you think that fashion down under is restricted to swimwear, make sure you have a look at the collections by Dion Lee.

Aged only 24, Lee is Sydney’s design wunderkind. Unlike many of his peers who seemed content to draw liberally and unashamedly from the collections shown in London, Paris and Milan only a couple of months ago, Lee showcased an aesthetic and approach all his own. Layers of tailored pleats and folds, with soft abstract prints and deconstructed, asymmetrical silhouettes made for inspired viewing, even in the landmark setting of the Sydney Opera House, which could have distracted from a collection by a lesser talent. The expectations placed on this young man were formidable, and by all accounts he more than lived up to them.

At the end of that sunny Sydney day, Mr. Lee breathed a sigh of relief as he collapsed in a heap at the Blue Bar and told me about the challenges faced by fashion designers in Australia — a virtually non-existent local manufacturing base, a small local fashion market, the soaring Australian dollar — in addition to those other difficulties that young designers face the world over. Operating an emerging fashion business in Australia is not for the faint of heart.

But this is one determined young man with eyes on taking his business global. Already, Net-a-Porter has snapped up his collection. And, with help from his mentor Nicky Zimmermann, he is plotting his next moves. Watch this space.

I was also struck by the aesthetic sensibilities of another young Australian, 28 year old Chris Kyvetos, creative director of the venerable Australian menswear store Harrolds, which opened a huge 1000 square metre emporium in Westfield Sydney in December 2010 to great fanfare and early commercial success.

Kyvetos has curated an enviable selection of globally recognised men’s fashion brands — Thom Browne, Comme des Garcons, and Kiton, and soon, Tom Ford and Rick Owens — in a setting that is truly world-class. But what was even more special was discovering niche brands from all over the world, including Naked & Famous denim from Montreal, Gold Bunny leather jackets from Milan, t-shirts by Deerdana from New York, and Song for the Mute, a local Australian label.

THE ARRIVAL OF INTERNATIONAL FAST FASHION

But many other local retailers are having a tough time of it. Earlier this year, the denim brand Sass & Bide, (another globally successful Australian business with a core transeasonal product) received a cash injection of A$42.25 million from Myer, one of country’s leading department stores.

Like many of its peers, Myer has been struggling to compete with the arrival of international chains, and its net profit is expected to decline by 5 percent this year compared to 2010. According to Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes, the department store took a 65 percent stake in Sass & Bide as part of its efforts to introduce “new product categories, brands, concepts and concessions.”

To put the retail challenge in perspective, consider the hullabaloo in April when the country’s first Zara store opened in the new Westfield shopping centre, upending the stodgy local retail scene, previously sheltered from international chains that move at the pace of global fast fashion.

Australian editors spoke breathlessly about Zara’s grand opening event that had queues of VIPs forming around the block. Within three minutes of opening, more than 80 percent of the stock was snapped up leaving local Zara executives to proclaim that it was the one of the most successful Zara openings ever and underlining the insatiable appetite Australians seem to have for international fashion.

Unlike some luxury fashion brands which insist on selling the same product in the Australian winter that is being sold during the Northern hemisphere summer, Zara is tailoring its product offering to fit with local tastes and seasons. Zara spokesman Jesús Echevarría told Jess Blanch, editor in chief of Australia’s Russh Magazine, that “eighty-five per cent of Zara’s Australian merchandise has been either adapted for or tailored specifically to the Australian market.”

It’s an approach that more international labels may want to consider as the buying power of other Southern hemisphere markets in South America, the Middle East and South East Asia continues to grow.

AN ONLINE DISCONNECT

Balenciaga Gladiator Sandals at RAFW | Source: Jak and Jil

But perhaps the biggest threat to Australia’s domestic fashion industry is a virtual one. As Mary Henderson of Australia’s Marketing magazine wrote last year, “the choice for purchasing is now both international and virtual and no longer physical and domestic.”

Outside the shows, it was hard to distinguish the Australian editors’ streetstyle from that of their international counterparts at the shows in Paris and New York. Tommy Ton and Phil Oh were having a field day. It was obvious that consumers in Australia are very aware of international fashion trends, and want access to the same products and collections as their peers in other parts of the world. But consumers repeatedly complained that they weren’t able to find what they were looking for at home, online or off.

In the pre-internet era, Australian retailers were artificially protected from international competition due to the sheer distance from the rest of the world, but the internet has blown this wide open. Armed with a strong Australian dollar that makes shopping abroad a relative bargain, they are flocking online to buy the latest trends from American and European etailers like Shopbop, Net-a-Porter and Topshop, who can deliver orders to their doors in a matter of days. Australia is now the third or fourth most important market for many international fashion e-tailers, a ranking that is disproportionate to the country’s relatively small population.

For the most part, Australian retailers have been very slow to move online, citing complications with logistics and complaining about the unfair tax advantages given to international retailers, who are exempt from collecting sales tax on purchases less than 1000 Australian dollars. If Shopbop can get the goods to all the way from America to Australia without issue, it’s surprising that local retailers cannot even organise themselves to deliver domestically.

Thanks again to IMG for continuing to invite me to their international fashion events. It’s a great experience to meet so many new people and understand the ever-changing dynamics of our global industry.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

Fast Fashion | Source: Sydney Loves Fashion

Why fast fashion is slow death for the planet (Guardian)
“With high-street chains churning out fresh designs every few weeks, we now buy more cheap clothes than ever before. But as Lucy Siegle reveals in her hard-hitting new book To Die For, it’s a trend that will cost us far more than we imagine.”

Why Pay Full Price? (WSJ)
“Neiman Marcus’s loyalty program, InCircle, is a credit card that… allows the retailer to keep track of purchases, as well as shopping frequency and any cross-shopping among its brands. The loyalty program ‘can retain customers, it can get new customers, it could win back anybody who has lapsed.’”

Goldman and Softbank invest in Gilt (FT)
“Goldman Sachs and Softbank of Japan are at the head of a group of investors providing $138m in financing to Gilt Groupe… The new financing supports estimates valuing Gilt at about $1bn… ‘It’s a stamp of approval, a sign that Gilt is doing the right thing.’”

Fashion Brands Attempt To Assess Social Media’s ROI (Thread NY)
“Fashion brands are beginning to assess their return on investment (ROI) for engaging on Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Some brands are certainly finding more success than others—and many are left shaking their heads about what works and what doesn’t.”

The fashion god who brought his message to the streets (Independent)
“It was Pierre Cardin, 88 – who this week announced he was putting his business up for sale (for €1bn, or £880m) – who opened those doors, inventing the franchise, a fashion directive that has changed the face of consumer culture. ‘Everything is Pierre Cardin.’”

Gisele for H&M Summer 2011 | Source: H&M

Fast fashion: Is the party over? (Telegraph)
“Following on from H&M’s shock results in the final quarter of 2010 which saw profits fall 11 per cent, fashion comparison website Stylecompare.co.uk has today reported that year-on-year sales of ‘low end’ retailers fell by 21 per cent, as consumers flock to ‘mid range’ and eco brands for their fashion fixes.”

Why Is This Man Smiling? (NY Times)
“Mr. Hsieh’s success has been built in part on his ability to anatomize the way people crave connections with others, and turn those insights into a business plan… Zappos is able to pay below market salaries for its more senior workers… Recruiters boast that it is harder to get a job at Zappos than to get admitted to Harvard.”

Bernard Arnault Goes to Washington (WWD)
“Bernard Arnault hit the nation’s capital Thursday like a politician on the campaign trail. The chairman… first met President Obama at the White House — where they discussed everything from globalization to employment — and then that night received the Corporate Citizenship award from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.”

Alexander McQueen’s Haunting World (Newsweek)
“He’d never analyze what made sense or not. It was personal and emotional, and he never wanted to water it down.’ The stagecraft and technical wizardry showed off McQueen’s capabilities as a designer. He was a skilled tailor who could also drape a glorious gown without benefit of a pattern. And his personal story… made him a dangerous and magnetic presence.”

Lunch with the FT: François Pinault (FT)
“A self-made luxury goods magnate, Pinault is internationally acclaimed for his cutting-edge art collection… But in France he has never shaken off a reputation as something of a wide-boy who made his wealth through takeovers of ailing companies, aided by political friendships… ‘French people … look at Pinault as a pirate.’”

Cathy Horyn | Source: Fashionologie

Fashion’s Most Feared Critic (Daily Beast)
“Cathy Horyn wields a pointed pen to (sometimes) skewer her subjects…Carolina Herrera, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Helmut Lang, Nicole Miller, and Oscar de la Renta have all banned Horyn and the Times from covering their collections at various points…None of this has seemed to faze the journalist, who, this fashion season, displayed her trademark ability to excite and infuriate.”

Coach targets UK in European push (FT)
“Coach, the US handbag and accessories retailer, is planning to open up to 15 British outlets over the next three years, as part of a push into the European luxury goods market.”

Is fast fashion killing fashion? (Just Style)
“Against such stellar growth it might seem strange to question whether a concept that’s so obviously popular and makes fashion accessible to a large number of people could also be killing the industry.”

Redesigned Versace eyes return to Japan (FT)
“A year into his turnround and Mr Ferraris… says he is ‘more optimistic’ than he expected, so much so that he is considering pushing the company to open stores in Japan once again.”

A feast from the East (Telegraph)
“A unique exhibition at the Barbican, ‘Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion’, shows how oriental designers walk a creative tightrope between tradition and innovation.”

Primark Autumn/Winter 2010 | Source: Via Woman

The future of cheap chic (Guardian)
“It was a sign of the times: fashion so cheap it became ‘disposable’… But the days of the £4 jeans and £2 T-shirt could be numbered, with analysts and retailers now warning that the era of constantly reducing prices is coming to an end.”

Celebrity Fashion Lines (Forbes)
“Celebrity clothing brands are particularly volatile, because their success is closely tied to one person whose popularity can fluctuate violently.  There’s a lot of coming and going, because as their popularity wanes it affects everything else.”

What Rich Consumers Want: R-E-S-P-E-C-T (WSJ)
“Wealthy consumers don’t want flash and sizzle, they want authenticity, low-key practicality and craftsmanship… No one wants to be pay to be noticed anymore. They want stealth wealth and comfortable shoes. Or do they?”

Prada H1 profits nearly quadruple (AFP)
“Italian fashion company Prada said Friday its net profit nearly quadrupled in the first half of 2010 thanks to strong demand for luxury goods in Asia and sales at Prada-run stores.”

Fashion figures turn out for Alexander McQueen memorial service (Independent)
“Family and friends took a break from London Fashion Week for the ceremony, which was a ‘who’s who’ of the industry… Lee Alexander McQueen earned himself a reputation as the ‘enfant terrible’ of British fashion.”

Industrial sewing machine, detail | Source: Act Now

Britain’s appetite for fast fashion is pushing workers into starvation (Guardian)
“Ethical trade has to be to ensure that workers are being paid a living wage… [including] food for her family and cover housing, education and health needs – Asian garment workers are currently being paid about half of what they need to do this.”

Fashion chains H&M and Zara launch online operations (Guardian)
“Several retailers have warned that consumer confidence is waning as people worry about their jobs… Online fashion sales, however, are proving remarkably resilient. Zara and H&M are two more in a long line of fashion stores that have moved into the online retail market.”

Fashion provides opportunities everywhere (Times of India)
“Designers from small towns as well as big cities have bright prospects… The future of the Indian fashion industry is very bright. Our designers have to stick to their basics and class and style in their work.”

A Garment District Perennial (WSJ)
“Although M&S flowers have graced J.Crew shoes, Teen Vogue photo shoots and Marchesa gowns (including the crimson dress actress Anne Hathaway wore to the 2008 Academy Awards), the company has struggled to stay in business amid competition from overseas.”

A Return to Basics, One Stitch at a Time (IHT)
“When Sara Checcucci opened her atelier in Galluzzo… she was astonished by the number of young people who would stop to gaze at her through the window as she worked. Later some of them came in and asked her to teach them her skills.”

Introducing the Gap’s new 1969 Denim

VANCOUVER, Canada — Those of you in North America over the past week can’t have missed the media bombardment from the Gap, the ailing San Francisco-based mass fashion retailer, as it announced the launch of its new 1969 premium denim range, with six new fits for women and seven new fits for men.

Huge full-page ads featuring Anja Rubik appeared in the Thursday Styles section of the New York Times, radio spots with voiceovers from Patrick Robinson, the Gap’s head designer, touted the launch of the “best premium jeans in America,” and a Facebook page was launched with even more links to a Twitter page, a Youtube page (see the video from the Gap explaining the new fits above) and even an iPhone application.

The Gap’s new denim was simply everywhere you looked.

For years, the Gap struggled as fast fashion retailers like Zara and H&M gobbled up market share by delivering the latest fashion trends at a fraction of the price, while American Apparel and Uniqlo slowly took away the Gap’s lock on the basics market, by delivering well cut t-shirts, denim and leggings in a panopoly of colours that drew shoppers in again and again. At the same time, the emergence of a premium denim players like Seven for all Mankind, Citizens of Humanity, Nudie and Lucky Brand found an audience traditional Gap customers willing to trade-up for jeans known for their fit and wash, even if it meant spending more than $200 on a pair.

The Gap’s new strategy ostensibly takes the company back to its heritage as a global leader in the denim category. In theory, there does appear to a hole in the market for good, stylish denim in a variety of fits and washes at a good price. While American Apparel may do denim for cheap, it only does one very skinny fit, suited to its hipster audience but not to the diversity of shapes and sizes of people out there. Premium denim players have lost some appeal of late as consumers who traded up look to scale back their spending in recessionary times. And, while H&M and Zara are solid on trends, they have never really delivered good denim.

But is the Gap’s new denim strategy working in practice?

A long line of customers waiting for the fitting rooms snaked through the middle of the Gap’s Pacific Centre store in Vancouver — something I haven’t seen at the Gap in ages. Almost everyone in line had some of the new denim in their hands. The heavy marketing push and huge window advertisements trumpeting the new jeans and the $20 discount had clearly done their job by bringing customers into the store to try the jeans on.

But, how about those fits? They also seemed to be working, in a variety of styles that suit different body types. My sister instantly found a pair of ‘Always Skinnys’ in a gunmetal grey that were a steal at $59.50, after the $20 discount. When we went to pay for her new find, the cashier told me: “Almost every single transaction I have rung up today has included a pair of jeans. People seem to really like the new fits — they are way better than what we had before.”

The response from online critics also point to positive results. Nicole Phelps of Style.com has given the new denim a big thumbs up, declaring: “Patrick Robinson Nails It” while our friend Britt Aboutaleb over at Fashionista.com says that she’ll be going back for more of Gap’s denim as soon as Autumn arrives.

Even financial analysts are showing new interest in the Gap, long seen as a dog stock. Last week, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Betty Chen upgraded the Gap to “Outperform” from “Neutral” and raised her price target to $23 from $18.

Overall, the Gap’s new denim is great. The fits are good. The washes are on-trend. And the multi-faceted marketing strategy and introductory low pricing seems to be working wonders for store traffic and sales productivity. The question now is how the Gap keeps them coming back for more.

My advice would be to regularly introduce the new denim fits in more washes and colours in line with seasonal trends (especially now that people have found a style that works for them) and to rework that other trusty Gap basic that’s lost its way: the khaki.

Imran Amed is Editor of The Business of Fashion

Photo by Sean Wood, courtesy of MEKAS

TOKYO, Japan — 2008 turned out to be an incredibly successful year for Uniqlo — and Uniqlo alone. The Japanese media can no longer mention the mass retailer without using the word hitorigachi — meaning “sole winner” or “to reign supreme.”

In a toxic retail environment, where most major apparel chains experienced 10-15 percent declines in same-store sales for December, Uniqlo finished the year up 10.3 percent. This came on the heels of Uniqlo’s stellar November, with 32.2 percent comparable-store base growth and the largest recorded monthly sales in the brand’s history.

These accomplishments allowed parent company Fast Retailing to raise its consolidated operating profit projections for the August 2009 fiscal year to ¥99 billion ($1.1 billion, at current exchange rates)  — an expected 13.2 percent increase from last year. Net sales are currently forecast to hit ¥627 billion ($7.1 billion) — a 6.9 percent increase.

The recession has certainly made Uniqlo’s low price clothing an obvious choice for consumers, but economic anxiety cannot fully explain the brand’s success. Uniqlo deserves credit for its constant stream of proactive campaigns designed to win over a large number of diverse consumer groups, both in Japan and abroad.

Although Yamaguchi Prefecture-based Fast Retailing has a long history of selling apparel, the idea of Uniqlo as a Gap-style national brand only dates back to 1997, when the company teamed up with ad agencies to refine its image. Only a year into this new strategy, the company hit the jackpot with a widespread consumer boom for its fleece products. Uniqlo lost steam after the trend’s end, however, and eventually experienced declining profits in 2002 and 2003. Ever since, the brand has been engaged in a large number of innovative campaigns to win back public interest.

In just the last two years, Uniqlo has made a distinct effort to attract sophisticated customers beyond the middle-mass base. Their award-winning UNIQLOCK became the favorite screensaver of Japan’s young PC users thanks to minimalist graphic design, chronological functionality, well-choreographed adorable Japanese female dancers, and original music from producer Fantastic Plastic Machine.

The bilingual free magazine UNIQLO PAPER helped associate the brand with New York hipster culture thanks to the Chloë Sevigny on the cover and photography by Terry Richardson. In Japan, monthly advertorials in men’s magazines like Popeye let fashion-forward readers in Japan see new products styled according to the latest fashion principles.

Retail spaces have also played a key part in the brand expansion. Uniqlo’s Ginza store — right on the neighborhood’s main avenue — raised the brand’s profile as a purveyor of trendy fashion rather than generic basics. Last year’s UT T-shirt store in Harajuku employed the talents of famed creative director Kashiwa Sato to offer a high-tech shopping experience. T-shirts, including a Pantone-color series, are available in giant vending machine capsules within a space over-run with moving LED message boards.

These appeals to cutting-edge consumers, however, did little to change the brand’s reputation of being mostly dedicated to casual menswear. In order to better target women, Uniqlo tied up last September with “real clothes” fashion festival Tokyo Girls Collection and model Yu Yamada to produce a series of sweater dresses for the Shibuya 109 set. The company further targeted young women with new products such as the “beautiful leg” stretch denim (using popular model Norika Fujiwara in the TV commercials) and a “bra-top” that puts brasserie-like pads inside of a tank top.

Despite such narrowly focused marketing efforts, Uniqlo never alienated its middle-market, middle-aged consumers, who mostly shop at the brand for the low prices, laid-back styles, and easy access. The incredibly functional, but not particularly stylish “Heattech” line of winter under items is currently selling-out nationwide despite a production run of an unprecedented 28 million pieces.

Surveys indicate that Japanese consumers are not just buying Uniqlo out of desperation but actively like the brand. In the yearly TBS General Consumer Preference Survey, Uniqlo took the top “preferred brand” ranking in 2008 for women in their 20s at an incredible 41 percent — beating out perennial favorite Louis Vuitton (26.7 percent) for the first time. Just a year before, Uniqlo had only hit 23.1 percent with the same survey group.

Admittedly, most consumers use Uniqlo products as invisible inner-wear rather than key wardrobe items. According to a survey in Nikkei Marketing Journal on January 16, 62 percent of women and 61 percent of men who buy Uniqlo mostly purchase shirts, turtlenecks, and sweaters. Many young customers have ceased thinking the brand is unfashionable, but they still do fear that others will easily identify the Uniqlo in their daily wear. As Japanese fashion blogger Dale wrote on his site Elastic, however,  “Uniqlo is fashion’s most famous supporting actor!” In other words, fashionable young consumers rely on Uniqlo to “pad” their daily wardrobes, but then let high-fashion pieces act as the most visible and memorable pieces.

Uniqlo’s success has come, of course, at the expense of other retail sectors. According to the previously-mentioned survey in Nikkei Marketing Journal, 45 percent of consumers who increased their shopping at Uniqlo curbed their shopping at department stores and fashion buildings (like PARCO and Marui). This set of consumers have become fully satisfied with Uniqlo’s quality and price. Furthermore, compared to “fast fashion” rivals H&M, Zara, and The Gap, Uniqlo has a distinctly Japanese design sensibility that fits the Japanese body and closely responds to the industry’s other trends. The items are also so neutral and basic that each consumer segment can adapt the brands to their own specific wardrobe needs: somewhat like American Apparel, but with lower prices and a more accessible brand identity.

Uniqlo currently manufactures over 90 percent of its products in China. Despite general squeamishness about Chinese-made goods and a reputation for being the most “quality-conscious” customers on earth, most Japanese consumers now believe that Uniqlo’s cost-performance is quite high. While these Chinese factories seem to be serving Uniqlo well, the company is making an attempt to diversify production capability. Fast Retailing has just inked a deal to create a joint venture in Bangladesh and appears to have high hopes for new factories in the developing nation.

On the retail side, Uniqlo’s global roll-out has been relatively successful so far, with branches established in the U.S., the U.K., France, China, Korea, and Hong Kong. The brand will also be moving into Southeast Asia soon, with its first location in Singapore scheduled to open in April. Uniqlo is also actively planning market entry for Germany and Russia. And, with a menswear-only store opening in London’s Selfridges, Uniqlo is developing a strong niche position in the West as a supplier of clean and simple “Japanese style” at an affordable price.

With an economy that looks likely to worsen throughout 2009, Japanese customers will certainly be inclined to continue shopping at Uniqlo. If the brand continues to hone its image as a fashion-forward company with high-quality products, Uniqlo will no doubt maintain its status as the top dog in the industry. This is not the fleece boom redux: consumers are not buying Uniqlo to participate in a fad. They are buying Uniqlo because the products meet their standards and fit their current needs.

Uniqlo is on the exact same page as Japanese customers — and that can never be a bad thing.

W. David Marx, Chief Editor of MEKAS, is a Tokyo-based writer and fashion market analyst.