Fast Retailing Co., a casual clothing firm operating under the Uniqlo brand, was to open four outlets in Britain on Friday, marking the first step in the company's bid to expand overseas.
"We will prove that the same growth we achieved in Japan is possible in Britain and will use this opportunity to become a global corporation," Fast Retailing President Tadashi Yanai told a news conference here Thursday.
One Uniqlo store is located close to Harrods in central London, while the other three are located in the capital's suburbs.
The design of the stores and the product lines are basically the same as those in Japan.
Fast Retailing plans to branch out in central England by next spring, with the number of stores expected to top 50 over a three-year period.
Uniqlo products will be priced 30 percent to 40 percent below comparable brands.
"To sell clothing in a country where the lifestyle is different is a handicap," Yanai conceded. "But I am confident that Japan's world-class textile technology combined with China's mass production capacity will help us compete against European and American-owned businesses, just as Sony and Honda have done."
While acknowledging that Britain's economic slowdown has become more prominent following the terrorist attacks in the United States earlier this month, Yanai said his company had shown it can combat such adversity, as it has demonstrated in Japan.
"The past three years during which Uniqlo grew fast in Japan were terrible times economically. But if you conduct business properly, you can win," Yanai said.