Uniqlo’s round initiative “Re.Uniqlo,” operated by Quick Retailing, Japan’s largest style firm, is marking its fifth yr. What started as an idea has developed right into a core enterprise technique, pushed by Koji Yanai, group govt officer overseeing sustainability, and artistic director Clare Waight Keller, who frames her mission as “designing the lifespan of clothes.”
Throughout the style trade, round methods are multiplying — international SPAs are strengthening garment assortment schemes, whereas European luxurious homes are elevating biodiversity as a strategic pillar. Uniqlo’s method stands out by pairing donation-led cultural sensitivity with superior recycling applied sciences developed in collaboration with Toray, and by linking company administration straight with design.
Launched in 2020, Re.Uniqlo has expanded its scope from clothes collections to commercializing recycled down merchandise, providing restore and remake providers and resale pilots. This five-year section has been about trial and error throughout the board, transferring circularity from philosophy to apply.
Quick Retailing has pledged to shift 50 % of all supplies used to recycled or extra sustainable options by 2030. As of 2024, the ratio stood at 18.2 %. Accountable sourcing tips now require traceability from the very high of the availability chain, beginning with farms and mills. From 2023, this started with cotton merchandise; cashmere adopted in 2024, with wool added in 2025. Audits at the moment are being rolled out throughout all phases, from uncooked materials origin to garment manufacturing. Moreover, a proprietary Life Cycle Evaluation framework requires suppliers to enter environmental-impact information, which is verified by third events. The numbers are visualized to tell sourcing standards and funding selections — primarily “pre-compliance” with Europe’s tightening CSRD and eco-design laws.
On the manufacturing facet, monitoring based mostly on the 2004 Code of Conduct and worker hotlines reinforces human rights and labor protections. On the buyer facet, the Re.Uniqlo Studio idea has expanded to 63 shops throughout 22 markets, fostering a “longer put on” tradition by means of restore and embroidery. Inside this framework, donations are positioned as a group contribution, whereas resale is seen as a social duty towards a round society. Resale pilots are being examined in a shop-in-shop format to determine circumstances for wider rollout.
Koji Yanai’s View: “Anchored in Buyer Expectations”
Spearheading the technique is Yanai, who defines the mission behind Re.Uniqlo in easy however common phrases: assembly buyer expectations. From his travels to shops worldwide, he hears straight from clients whose standards for “good clothes” now lengthen past high quality, value and design to incorporate security and duty in manufacturing.
That, he mentioned, is each a problem and a constructive stress. “Right now, clients maintain extra info than we do. Even with eco-friendly merchandise, if there’s a value hole, the ultimate determination rests with them.”
The pattern towards spending solely on what’s really obligatory has grown stronger post-pandemic, a pattern now shared globally. Additionally, Yanai believes variations in sustainability consciousness between Japan and the markets of Europe and the U.S. are narrowing.
In as we speak’s hyper-connected world, the place applied sciences and traits unfold immediately, style tastes cross borders as seamlessly as soccer, music or movie. Yanai additionally views the tightening of European laws positively, typically as a chance for previous efforts to be reassessed. “If shoppers demand transparency without any consideration, and it turns into a rule, then we are going to compete in accordance with these guidelines,” he affirmed.
He doesn’t cover his frustration that Uniqlo remains to be typically categorized as “quick style.” He careworn, “Our garments are made to final for years.” He cited the credibility of listening to straight from shoppers who say, “I’ve been sporting this for 5 years.” To him, communication should not cease at intention: “It’s not sufficient to imagine we’ve conveyed it. We’ve got to persist till the message really lands,” he mentioned.
Clare Waight Keller’s View: “Designing With Longevity in Thoughts”
For Clare Waight Keller, design is each the entry and exit level of circularity. “My function is to think twice concerning the lifespan of clothes,” she mentioned. The aim: timeless attraction, prime quality and performance delivered collectively.
Clare Waight Keller
One instance is the boys’s sweatsuit launched in September 2023 below “Uniqlo :C.” A primary wardrobe merchandise, it turned a high vendor inside six months because of its modern silhouette and double-layered premium cotton. Repeat purchases adopted, which Keller described as “an actual reply to sustainable design that blends universality and high quality.”
Her most vital problem is evolving Uniqlo’s classics. A French striped T-shirt has been up to date with a contemporary contact, that includes an improved size and neckline. Even core merchandise like Heattech are being elevated, with improvements reminiscent of light-weight cashmere blends. By persevering with to make use of constant materials and palettes throughout seasons, she advocates for “wardrobe longevity.” Recycling is vital, she emphasised, however it’s not sufficient. “Sustainability is simply real if the garment is made to final.”
Keller acknowledged that assortment volumes stay low and sees the necessity to strengthen client engagement. Nonetheless, she imagines inspiration from the longer term second when her personal designs return by means of assortment bins. “That may spark new concepts for reuse,” she mentioned with a smile.
The cadence of her work has shifted dramatically from seven annual collections at luxurious homes to simply two at Uniqlo. She calls it “a luxurious” to spend time scrutinizing materials and proportions earlier than launch. Her imaginative and prescient: fastidiously constructed timeless wardrobes, and in the end, “a system the place an increasing number of of our garments return to circulation, creating wardrobes that endure 5, 10 years and past.”
The Strategic Agenda for the Subsequent Decade
One urgent problem is accelerating the change to recycled supplies. As famous, progress towards the 2030 50 % goal sat at simply 18.2 % in 2024. Whereas polyester already achieves a 47.4 % recycled enter, pure fibers stay a bottleneck. Resale remains to be on the pilot stage.
Wanting forward, biodiversity might be important. Uniqlo has begun collaborating with scientists on the College of the Ryukyus to evaluate the impression of cashmere herding in Mongolia. Utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery to investigate rainfall and desertification, and monitoring uncommon species, the corporate goals to include scientific perception on ecological dangers alongside local weather concerns.
The larger query is find out how to maximize assets from the collected clothes. Right here, Uniqlo has already achieved one breakthrough: its down recycling scheme with Toray. On the coronary heart of that is the separation machine at Toray’s Seta plant, which makes use of weight differentials and air move to extract feathers even from clothes with zippers and fasteners hooked up. The restoration charge is already at about 90 %, with additional enhancements underway. Such technical foundations are what make circularity not only a philosophy, however a enterprise.
At considered one of Uniqlo’s 5 sorting services, clothes collected in Japan is split into 18 classes and baled in models of about 100 items, awaiting distribution.
Globally, governments and firms are racing to construct “fiber-to-fiber” recycling programs by means of innovation and regulation. With annual revenues topping 3 trillion yen, Uniqlo is positioning itself to steer its provide chain towards scalable options. Success would have ripple results throughout your entire trade.
Notably, Uniqlo’s clothes assortment started with donations, a apply that continues as we speak. By August 2024, 58.97 million objects had been donated to 81 nations and areas through UNHCR and different companions. Sorting facilities observe strict cultural tips, filtering out prints that will evoke battle, making certain garments will be handed over straight. Constructing on this basis, Uniqlo is now wanting past donations — advancing fiber-to-fiber applied sciences and scaling up resale — to handle evolving client expectations.
