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Learning America: Japanese specialty retail giant Uniqlo moves forward with plans to expand in Manhattan this year.

Article Excerpt
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, goes the old motto. And Uniqlo (say it as an abbreviation of "unique clothes") is following that advice, retooling its plans for the U.S. and elsewhere as it studies how to best expand its strong business in Japan to the rest of the world.

Uniqlo is part of Fast Retailing, which also operates Theory in the U.S., Comptoir des Cotonniers and Princesse tam.tam in France, and g.u., Cabin, One Zone, Foot Park, and Aspesi in Japan. From a single store opened in Hiroshima in 1984, Uniqlo has blossomed into a 760-store (nearly all in Japan) strong operation that is one of the top 10 specialty clothing retailers worldwide.

What was its secret? Fleece, says Shin Shuda, chief marketing office for Uniqlo USA: "We hit a gold mine in fleece jackets." He explains that, in Japan in the mid-Eighties, the only fleece jackets available in Japan were high-end offerings from brands like L.L. Bean, and selection was strictly limited. Uniqlo...

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