In Uniqlo’s name, the Q came from a 1988 misreading of the C in “Uni-clo.”
The brand began with a Hiroshima store opened in 1984 under the name Unique Clothing Warehouse. The intended abbreviation was “Uni-clo,” combining the opening parts of “unique” and “clothing.” During administrative work in Hong Kong in 1988, the C was reportedly recorded as a Q. Tadashi Yanai, who led the company, liked the unexpected spelling and chose to retain it.
That decision turned a registration mistake into the distinctive name UNIQLO. The name still echoes the original phrase “Unique Clothing Warehouse,” but the Q gives the brand a memorable visual identity and separates it from the ordinary spelling “Uniclo.” The company later used the shortened name across its Japanese stores.
The story is sometimes simplified as though the entire name was invented from scratch in 1988. In fact, the underlying retail concept and the longer name came first. Another common mix-up is assuming “Uniqlo” means “uniform clothing”; its official explanation connects the name to “Unique Clothing Warehouse,” not uniforms.