TheJakartaPost
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It's in town
Uniqlo polo shirt and T-shirt for athletes are on display at Bicqlo store at Shinjuku of Ginza in Tokyo, Japan
Uniqlo polo shirt and T-shirt for athletes are on display at Bicqlo store at Shinjuku of Ginza in Tokyo, Japan.
Top Japanese ready-to-wear apparel brand Uniqlo has reached Jakarta, aiming 'simply' to get all Indonesians to have at least one of its items in their closets.
'Basically, we just want to get everyone in the world to wear our products, regardless of their economic background,' Naoki Otoma, Asia-Pacific CEO of Uniqlo and holding Fast Retailing Co, Ltd executive vice president, told a number of Indonesian media outlets, including The Jakarta Post, on the sidelines of the brand's 2014 fall-winter exhibition in Shibuya, Tokyo, in early June.
'Our dream is to get the some 240 million people in Indonesia to wear at least one Uniqlo item. That'd be enough.'
Otoma shared that the Japanese brand's presence in the capital was a bit late. 'Actually, we wanted to come earlier. But it was indeed quite hard to enter Indonesia as compared to other countries,' he says.
He revealed that the country's regulations were rather strict.
'We have to come within a big store ' small stores require [local] partners. On the other hand, however, we learned that Indonesia is only protecting its product and we've always wanted to follow the country's regulations,' added Otoma.
The first store in Jakarta is the second-largest Uniqlo in South East Asia after Bangkok, which measures 2,700 square meters.
Otoma believes that Indonesia has a bright economic future. 'Indonesia's population is twice that of Japan's. Within 10 years, Indonesia's economy will grow, over passing Japan,' he said.
Indonesia, mainly Jakarta, has been bombarded with international clothing brands over the past few years but Otoma said his company was not worried about tough competition in the market. 'Frankly speaking, we never think of [other international brands] as our competitors. On the contrary, we want to work with them in shaping the Indonesian market,' he says.
Uniqlo believes its strong concept ' providing comfortable and daily wear products within affordable prices ' will do the work.
'Other brands may focus on current trends. But we focus on qualified materials. Our powerful items aren't just pants, shirts and jackets, but also innerwear, which is used on a daily basis.'
