The Japanese fashion brand, Uniqlo, is expanding its pre-loved offering this spring/summer with a new collection of redyed and cleaned items made available to customers both price and environmentally conscious.
Following a trial run launched in late 2023 – and as part of the brand’s ongoing sustainability efforts – the fashion house will start selling used Uniqlo clothes at select stores from late March. Uniqlo will assess the response from customers to inform whether the concept becomes a fully-fledged offering across the business.
Part of the Japanese-owned Fast Retailing staple of brands, Uniqlo will begin by offering used spring and summer products such as t-shirts and dress shirts for a limited time. Based on sales and response, the company will look to increase the number of participating stores accordingly.
A pilot scheme for the resale business was launched in October last year at Uniqlo’s Tokyo store in the Harajuku district. This marked the first time Uniqlo had set out to sell used items to customers.
The company has, however, been collecting clothing since 2006, providing used items to refugee camps in disaster areas. Asia.Nikkei reports that since August 2022, some 50.5 million items have been donated to 80 countries and effected regions.
Repair, refurbish, and Re.Uniqlo
The company also launched its repair and refurb service, Re.Uniqlo in 2022. The Re.Uniqlo Studio repair service made its debut at its London store in September 2022 and has since been rolled out across 35 stores in 16 markets. Uniqlo now plans to increase this to more than 50 stores in 2024.
Earlier this year, Fast Retailing was recognised on CPD’s annual A List of brands acting on climate change for its transparency and leadership in the fashion sector. CDP, the global environmental non-profit is widely recognised itself for being the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency.
Speaking of the recognition, Yukihiro Nitta, Fast Retailing Group executive officer responsible for sustainability, said: “Fast Retailing addresses climate change as one of our highest sustainability priorities. We continue to expand our disclosure efforts as we work on initiatives to help achieve our key Fiscal 2030 Sustainability Targets.”
To address climate change, Fast Retailing is working to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It is aiming to reduce GHG emissions from its own operations such as store and main offices (scope 1 and scope 2 emissions) by 90% by fiscal 2030; reduce emissions from raw materials, fabric, and garment production for Uniqlo and GU products by 20% by 2030; and achieve 100% sourcing of renewable electricity at Fast Retailing global stores and main offices by 2030.
