fashionologie

Jil Sander, Uniqlo To Part Ways

fashionologie — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:47:14 PDT

>> After a three-year run with Uniqlo, Jil Sander's Fall 2011 +J collection will be her last, the company announced today in a release: "With the recent completion of the design of the . . . Fall and Winter collection, Ms. Sander and [Uniqlo] agreed that they had fully explored the possibilities of their creative collaboration and accomplished what they had set out to do. Consequently, the two parties have decided to wrap up their design consulting agreement with this collection."

Uniqlo has never disclosed revenue for the +J line, and although Sander is notoriously difficult to work with, her relations with the company seemed to be going well as recently as February. According to an interview dated Feb. 1 with Tadashi Yanai, CEO and founder of Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing, Yanai said: “Jil’s attitude towards clothing creation is truly incredible. She is particularly masterful when it comes to garment shape and style. She will recreate and refresh her designs until she is completely satisfied - even when it comes to the minutest detail. That is why customers feel so satisfied with the fit of collection clothes the instant they try them on. Uniqlo must embrace this fundamental attitude, as well as the passion and attention to detail that Jil brings to creating clothes.”

A Fast Retailing spokesman confirmed today that the company's team of 100 designers “learned a lot” while working with Sander, including her famed attention to detail in selection of raw materials.

Gap To Change Up Holiday 2009 Campaign, May Be Pursued By Uniqlo's Owner Fast Retailing

fashionologie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:42:00 PDT

>> Gap is still struggling to define itself - and for the first time in seven years, the company is looking at using a different creative agency - it has worked with Laird & Partners since 2002 - for its Holiday 2009 campaign, which could mean an entirely different approach to those simple backgrounded studio shots we've become accustomed to.

But that may not be the only big change on the horizon for the company: Uniqlo's owner, Fast Retailing, which counts French brands Comptoir des Cotonniers and Princesse tam.tam as well as Theory among its portfolio, may be after the American retailer. CEO Tadashi Yanai recently said that he wants Fast Retailing to become the world's biggest clothing manufacturer and retailer within the next decade: "To achieve our target, the Asian market is the most important and we have already begun to expand there. In Europe and the US it is not realistic to establish hundreds or thousands of new stores solely via our own efforts, so we want to buy a big chain business."

The Indepedent reports that the "big chain business" Yanai refers to has been speculated to be Gap; in response, Yanai has said Gap is "within the scope" of the brands he might have in mind.

More Details on Uniqlo's Jil Sander Snag

fashionologie — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:26:07 PDT

>> Monday evening came an announcement that surely knocked more than one avid fashion follower out of their chair - Jil Sander is coming back to fashion as creative consultant to Japanese brand Uniqlo. We've got the who and the what, but as for the how, Fast Retailing executives (from Uniqlo's parent company) fill us in.

Apparently the company has been pursuing Sander since last June and didn't have any other candidates for the role - she's the “top of the top,” according to chairman Tadashi Yanai, who credited her with inventing the "modern basic." Sander, for her part, says she had received “a lot of offers from many companies” since leaving the fashion world, but she ended up deciding to try something “completely different” and work exclusively for the Japanese label.

One detail we still don't know? How long Sander and Uniqlo expect to collaborate: executives declined to specify the duration of the contract.
*image: source