Store Uniqlo

Product range. At the core of Uniqlo collections are affordable rainbow-coloured basics. Still, there's more to Uniqlo than meets the eye. Uniqlo stores are the destination point for those who seek perfectly fitted jeans (the company offers express clothing alteration free of charge), quality yet dirt cheap cashmere sweaters, t-shirts in stunning prints, and, of course, the signature Ultra Light Down jacket that weights a mere 6 oz, a tad heavier than your newest iPhone. The high quality of ready-to-wear clothing at low cost is due to company's SPA-style strategy to encompass production and distribution under one roof, which made it superfluous to rely on third parties for materials.

Originality. At first glance, there's nothing fancy to Uniqlo stores, but numerous collaboration efforts with Japanese and European designers (including Jil Sander and more recently Carine Roitfeld) yield one-of-a-kind items.

Chic. Uniqlo focus on clothing that doesn't go out of style, key fashion trends of the season notwithstanding. The styles are up-to-date, but not too over-the-top.

Pricing. The prices are nice with many items just under €10: Uniqlo's pricing policy flies in the face of the usual cost and quality trade-off, which is arguably what gives the company a competitive edge over its rivals. The pieces are all high quality and live up to notoriously demanding Japanese standards.

Corporate history highlights. The company has its origin in Ube, Yamaguchi in 1949 and started out as Ogori Shoji menswear shop. The first Unique Clothing Warehouse (the name soon contracted to the catchy Uniqlo) store was opened in Hiroshima n 1984. Low-cost quality clothing appealed to Japanese tastes of "The Great Depression" of the 1990s and Uniqlo have quickly grown into a flourishing company. The first of their over 1,400 overseas outlets was opened in London in 2001, which was the first step toward the global expansion that followed.

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