Fast Retailing, the parent company of Japanese fast fashion giant Uniqlo, said on Friday that more than 100 of the stores closed due to the outbreak have reopened in the past week, and there are still 125 are still closed.
Uniqlo currently has 750 stores in China. In addition, China is also the most important production base of Fast Retailing Group. Among the 242 garment processing factories it cooperates with, 128 are located in China.
In the Uniqlo U spring and summer series released last week, 95 new products were originally scheduled to be launched. However, due to delays in Chinese factory production and logistics, some new products were delayed, including A jacket and trousers from the Uniqlo U series operated by French designer Christophe Lemaire. The trousers will be released on February 24, and the jacket is expected to be released in early March.
This kind of phenomenon has caused many people to worry that the impact of the outbreak on the Fast Retailing Group’s supply chain has begun to affect their global business.
In this regard, Fast Retailing Group stated that almost all of their partner factories have resumed operations, but not all workers have returned to work, adding: “Currently we have ensured The inventory currently required.”
Fast Retail Group also reiterated their emphasis on the Chinese market in the statement: “Although Uniqlo will continue to expand to new markets such as Europe, Markets, Greater China and Southeast Asia remain the pillars of our sales growth.”
Read more: Sino-US trade war Intensifying order transfer, the number of Uniqlo’s suppliers in Vietnam has increased by 40%!
According to authoritative media reports on September 4, 2019, Uniqlo is considering moving its clothing production to Southeast Asia. It is understood that as early as April last year, Uniqlo announced that it would make Vietnam responsible for 40% of its total clothing production.
For Vietnam, which is favored by Uniqlo, industry analysts pointed out that most of Vietnam’s textile and garment manufacturers are processors, and their production 80% of raw materials are imported from China, India and ASEAN countries. In addition, according to garment factory owners who have relocated to Vietnam, the biggest problem is the gap in worker efficiency between China and Vietnam. Vietnamese workers do not work overtime at all, and most of them have no skills, resulting in low production efficiency and always delayed delivery times.
It is reported that after seeing the manufacturing shortcomings in Vietnam, Chairman Ru Hong of Nike’s foundry stated that he would not open a new factory in Vietnam in the next three years. Data shows that as of November 30, 2018, UNIQLO had a total of 46 major fabric suppliers in the world, of which 25 were in the Chinese market. Among them, as a famous UNIQLO clothing foundry, China’s Shenzhou International has established a full production chain from textiles, printing and dyeing, design, cutting to garments. The company has a world-class textile fabric research and development laboratory.
It is understood that while announcing that it will shift part of its production to Vietnam, Uniqlo also announced at the same time that it will train in China “Artisan” program from the Sewing and Materials team. In fact, in recent years, thanks to the strong consumer demand in the Chinese market, UNIQLO has achieved sales growth for seven consecutive years.
Currently, 90% of UNIQLO’s products are sold in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Made in Turkey. Although Fast Retailing Group still relies most on Chinese manufacturers, the Nikkei Asian Review quoted the supplier list published on March 31 as saying that the number of major suppliers in Vietnam has increased by 40% since the list was first made public in February 2017. .
As China’s population ages, the labor force, especially the intensive labor force, decreases. In addition, the cost of employment increases, and the monthly salary Vietnam, which is only half the level of China, has high labor quality and a relatively stable political environment, has been regarded as a second production base by Fast Retailing Group. This is also a dynamic trend in the manufacturing industry in Asia and the world. The situation of procurement shifts after the Sino-US trade war started. It will only be serious.
In the past year, Fast Retailing Group has 184 core cooperative factories in 7 countries. The products supplied by these long-term partners account for 80% of the total value of Uniqlo’s products. </p
