CEO Commitment

Last Updated: 2008.04.24
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In order to make the world a better place, we must first change ourselves

FAST RETAILING is committed to “Changing clothes. Changing conventional wisdom. Change the world”. We seek to enrich people’s lives around the world through business innovation in the apparel retailing industry. By constantly practicing proper management and creating the next generation of global standards, we will move the world in a better direction. This is the ideal that underlies all of our CSR activities.

Through the success of the New York Flagship Store, UNIQLO, our core business, has created the foundation to position itself in the global market. We opened our London Flagship Store in November 2007 and, though the date has not yet been determined, we have plans to open a global flagship store in the center of Paris. We are taking bold steps and accelerating group management in other businesses as well. Our goals are group sales of ¥ 1 trillion and operating income of ¥ 150 billion by the year 2010.

For FAST RETAILING, which is at a new stage in its development, CSR is of decisive importance. Will our approach work overseas? Is there something taking place overseas that we ourselves should be doing? We must establish a form of CSR that transcends national and regional boundaries based on this awareness.

A commitment to compliance with laws and regulations alone, however, is clearly a passive stance. We must take a more active approach and communicate the things we have decided to do of our own accord. We must communicate who we are, what we have done in the past, and what we plan to do in the future. More specifically, we must communicate the kinds of relationships FAST RETAILING is trying to build with its stakeholders. It is necessary to make such things clear. Without this kind of communication and disclosure, it will be impossible for us to be both accepted and respected by the global market.

A new Japanese company that will make it possible for everyone to wear good casual clothing: This is our starting point. Everyone is our customer. This is likely quite rare among companies selling clothing. What is a good company from everyone’s perspective? What is universally good? We must carry out CSR activities while constantly searching for answers to these questions.

We face many choices every day. When we are unsure of the correct course of action, we base our decision on what would be best for society as a whole. We think about how we should proceed in light of our social mission. Our choices may sometimes run counter to the short-term profit of the company. To ensure that we do not waver in making the correct decision, we plan to intensify efforts aimed at establishing specific decision-making criteria for all worldwide affiliates. It is impossible to have fully formed CSR practices without such criteria.

A challenge for us is how to share our values as the number of group companies grows, with geographical expansion and a growing number of employees. Group management does not simply involve investing in group companies and creating capital alliances. It is crucial that we make ongoing efforts to convey and share group values regarding the behavior of people who work for the FAST RETAILING Group.

We first published a CSR report in 2006, so this report is our second. Thanks to the support of our stakeholders, over the course of the year, a culture of commitment to the steady, ongoing implementation of CSR initiatives, though not fully mature, has taken root within the company and is making solid progress.

Ultimately, a company’s role is to create added value through its business operations, pay taxes on the profit made, and create and maintain employment. Through playing this role, it fulfills its responsibility to society. Appropriately redistributing profit to shareholders, suppliers and its own employees is also an important social responsibility. Moreover, as a global company, we must ask how we can help people who are less fortunate, regardless of their nationality, location or ethnicity, and fully engage in initiatives to do so.

We have decided that the All-Product Recycling Initiative that we started on a trial basis in September 2006 needs to be continued. We will keep conducting this initiative on a regular basis. The clothing that we collect is used in such meaningful initiatives as recycling into energy or industrial fiber, or it is reused in the form of relief provisions for refugee camps. As we have indicated in this report, we intend to actively continue this important initiative.

Promoting diversity is another important agenda at FAST RETAILING. We Japanese tend to act and communicate overseas based on standards prevalent in Japan, without realizing what we are doing. With respect to promoting diversity, it is important that we continue to learn about other cultures and societies, and it is necessary for us to work to convey to others who we are.

As to environmental initiatives, I believe that the best way for companies to lower their environmental impact is to improve their operating efficiency. Are we engaged in any unnecessary activities? What do we need to do to produce maximum added value from the minimum amount of resources? The FAST RETAILING Group is committed to efficient operations in order to minimize our environmental impact.

In our CSR initiatives for the year, we came to the understanding that complying with laws and regulations is not good enough. We need to more actively conduct innovative initiatives that draw on the unique qualities of FAST RETAILING.

It is likely that the FAST RETAILING Group will continue to carry out production in developing nations and regions. Through the act of producing clothing, we hope to help raise the quality of life in developing countries. For example, one idea is to team up with local production partners to open schools and provide job training to people with little access to education. Some of our production partners already have such training facilities, so another idea might be to provide monetary support for them.

Our CSR activities are still underdeveloped compared with progressive multinational corporations. We have a lot to learn. Given all the things that we need to know more about, we must be even more deeply committed to learning. I think that this is the essence of working in a globalized world. As a company, we hope to continue increasing opportunities for learning.

Through our activities thus far, I have come to firmly believe that in order to make the world a better place, we must first change ourselves.

Thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement.
January 2008

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