The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The decision comes as the company faced public pressure to halt operations in the country, as a wave of retailers, including fast fashion rivals H&M and Zara, shut up shop.
Until today, the Japanese clothing giant had been a lonely voice maintaining its intention to continue operating its 50 stores in the Russian market.
”Clothing is a necessity of life. The people of Russia have the same right to live as we do,” Tadashi Yanai, the founder and chief executive of Uniqlo-parent Fast Retailing was quoted as saying by Japan’s Nikkei newspaper earlier this week.
The comments prompted a negative response from many users on social media and Ukraine’s ambassador to Japan, Sergiy Korsunsky, criticised the retailer on Twitter.
ADVERTISEMENT
Companies continuing to operate in Russia are also facing mounting logistical and operational challenges as a results of sanctions and broader corporate exits.
”[I]t has become clear to us that we can no longer proceed due to a number of difficulties,” Fast Retailing said in a statement Thursday, pointing to both operational challenges and the worsening conflict in Ukraine.
The company also said it has donated $10 million to UNHCR.
— Casey Hall
Whether or not brands keep doing business in Russia is largely being driven by logistical challenges rather than moral commitments.
As Ukraine faces its darkest hour, the country’s fashion community is asking the wider industry to act.
The sanctions against the Russian diamonds now have the diamond trade at the centre of the war, and could send jewellery companies reeling.
Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co are among the brands expanding in Perth, Australia in a bid to tap its mining, oil and gas wealth and newfound status as a travel hub.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Haiti’s sourcing crisis, Brazilian jewellery giant Vivara and Dubai’s Ramadan shopping season.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Supreme’s long-awaited Shanghai flagship opening, India imposes MIP on undervalued imports of synthetic knitted fabric and striking Sri Lankan workers continue to protest.
Imran Amed shares his observations from a trip to the wealthy desert metropolis, home to the most lucrative stores for many of the world’s top fashion brands.