TOKYO — Uniqlo, the low-priced casual brand operated by Fast Retailing Co., is teaming up with seven up-and-coming designers active in Paris and Tokyo to create limited-edition merchandise for fall.
Uniqlo will use its mass production technology and mass material sourcing capabilities to offer the collections at low prices.
The seven designers — four for women’s and three for men’s wear — will take turns month after month introducing a collection of eight to 11 items using fabrics and other materials (supplied by Uniqlo) in what is billed as the “Designers Invitation Project.”
Uniqlo said the project is its first attempt to bring new designers and consumers together to be able to offer fresh, high-quality and yet low-price merchandise that does not compromise the designer’s fashion sensibility.
The leadoff designer will be Felipe Oliveira Baptista, whose designs went on sale last week in Uniqlo stores in Japan, in other overseas markets and also through Uniqlo’s Web site. The Portuguese-born designer, who studied fashion at London’s Kingston University, gained his experience at Max Mara, Christophe Lemaire and Cerruti.
Baptista will pass the baton in October to Nicolas Andreas Taralis, a Toronto-born Canadian designer of Greek descent who launched his own collection in 2004 after a three-year stint with Dior Homme.
In November, Adam Jones, a British designer, will come in. He started his own brand in 2001 after working at such houses as Kenzo and Christian Dior in Paris.
Jones will give way to Mint Designs in December. The Mint Designs brand is run by Hokuto Katsui, who launched the line in Japan after returning from studying at Parsons The New School for Design and London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. He was joined by Nao Yagi in 2003, who studied at the same London college.
Men’s wear lines will be designed and produced by Theatre Products, Scye and Iliad, who are all active in the Tokyo Collections.
Uniqlo said it expects sales of one million pieces from the project worldwide. Prices will range from 1,990 yen, or $17.16 at current exchange, for T-shirts; 4,990 yen, or $43, for slim straight jeans; 7,990 yen, or $68.88, for rider’s down jackets and 12,900 yen, or $111.20, for wool coats.
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The company posted consolidated sales of 384 billion yen, or $3.31 billion, in the last business year, making it Japan’s largest apparel manufacturer-retailer, with 720 outlets in Japan, eight in Britain, nine in China, three in South Korea and one in Hong Kong. In April, the company opened its second U.S. store in SoHo in New York following the first door in New Jersey.