The Japanese fashion retailer that began as Unique Clothing Warehouse in Hiroshima in 1984 is Uniqlo.
The first store opened in June 1984 in Fukuro-machi, Hiroshima, as a unisex casual-wear shop called Unique Clothing Warehouse. The business was led by Tadashi Yanai, whose family company had earlier operated as Ogori Shōji. The retailer later became part of Fast Retailing, the corporate group that owns and operates the brand.
The name was originally intended to be a shortened form of “unique clothing.” During a 1988 registration process in Hong Kong, a “C” was reportedly read as a “Q.” Yanai liked the resulting spelling, and “Uniqlo” became the brand name used throughout Japan.
Uniqlo is often confused with GU, another Japanese apparel chain associated with Fast Retailing, but they are distinct brands. Uniqlo’s expansion accelerated in the 1990s, including a major urban store in Tokyo’s Harajuku district in 1998 and international growth beginning with London in 2001.