Uniqlo Co. and Toray Industries Inc. agreed Tuesday on another five-year strategic partnership, with the aim of achieving business transactions worth ¥1 trillion between the two companies.
Over the next five years, they will facilitate globalization to increase manufacturing and digitization to optimize production processes.
"We will become the world's No. 1 brand with the partnership with Toray," said Uniqlo CEO Tadashi Yanai.
He said the two companies can innovate by combining Toray's production power and R&D expertise with Uniqlo's merchandising and marketing skills.
The partnership between Yamaguchi-based apparel giant Uniqlo and Tokyo-based fabric and textile maker Toray began in 1999. Since then, they have jointly developed new products including Uniqlo's signature brands, such as Heattech and Airism.
This is their third five-year agreement, and they aim to achieve a combined ¥1 trillion in transactions as Uniqlo has become a global brand over the past 10 years.
The first five-year partnership, signed in 2006, achieved business worth about ¥250 billion.
Uniqlo and Toray said they will expand production sites and capabilities in China and Southeast Asia, as well as utilize more big data to analyze customers' needs to bring them what they want faster.
As for the impact of last Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, Uniqlo said all its stores in the French capital are now open. Its parent, Fast Retailing Co., also runs France-based Comptor des Cotonniers and Prince Tam Tan, which sell outfits and lingerie. Some of the stores were temporarily closed but have since reopened, the firm said.