The New Era of “Cheap and Good” - When did I become a Uniqlo devotee!?

When it comes to clothing, Uniqlo is considered to be one of Japan’s top brands. The company’s growth has been unstoppable, so much so that it has now become one of the world’s leading brands. In Japan, Uniqlo has opened not only in department stores and large stand-alone stores, but also in JR stations and airports, and it also established a strong presence with online shopping. The management skills of Uniqlo’s President Yanai are just impressive.

Uniqlo is now so famous, but for some reason I had never purchased anything from Uniqlo until recently. Why? When Uniqlo first came out, I could not get rid of the image that their clothing was just “cheap and bad”, so I thought they were just another t-shirt manufacturer. Later on, President Yanai’s name started gaining more recognition and media exposure, but I did not pay any attention to him because he was rumored to be more of a dictator than a president so I had the image that Uniqlo was as close to being a dishonest company as possible. I have heard that President Yanai lived in Nanpeidai-cho, Shibuya. One day when I just happened to be there, I saw him in his car. He did indeed look like a celebrity-like boss of a large company. He had a certain aura about him, which was similar to Takeshi Kitano or Tamori, if I were to compare him to celebrities in the Japanese entertainment industry. He had a very strong presence.

Whether the company is insincere or not, I can understand that any entrepreneur of a growing company has a tough time running the company. Therefore, it is obvious that President Yanai also had a tough time. In order to succeed in running companies, presidents must be strict with themselves and also with their employees. President Yanai knew how to do this, and that is why he continued to push forward his business no matter what the people said about him, and he was able to make Uniqlo one of the world’s top companies. The results speak for themselves.

I had never even cared about Uniqlo before, but one day I was suddenly sucked into a Uniqlo store at Haneda Airport and ended up buying three t-shirts. What a temptation this was! Did I shop at Uniqlo myself? If you buy a t-shirt in the States, it costs about $7-8. If these were made in China, it would cost about $1.35 or roughly 150 yen. A thought then flashed through my mind, “That’s not even cheap!” However, I finally got up the courage to buy three t-shirts, and was surprised at the quality.

The fit and feel of the Uniqlo t-shirts I purchased were far beyond my expectations and proved to be extremely good quality. Because these t-shirts fit so well, before I knew it I had completely stopped wearing my old t-shirts. I had worn many of them for more than 10 years, and I couldn’t bear to throw them away and still insisted on wearing them. However, the excellent fit of the Uniqlo t-shirts has won me over. So then, I eventually became a Uniqlo fan myself, maybe I have even converted to becoming a devoted follower who says that Uniqlo should be the only choice when it comes to buying t-shirts.

The era of “cheap and bad” has come to an end. A new era of “cheap and good” has begun. This is why Sound House cannot miss this chance. If we don’t work harder to develop products that are cheap and good, we will be left behind in future.