Where it all started Growing up in a sleepy industrial town in southwestern Japan close to Hiroshima , Tadashi lived above his parents ’ small menswear clothing store , where he would help his tailor father run the store . After moving away to study political science , Tadashi returned in 1972 to take on the family store .

Over the next decade , he took frequent overseas buying trips to the US and Europe – and inspired by brands such as Espirit , Benetton , Gap and Next , Tadashi spotted a gap in the Japanese retail market for a casualwear concept .

“ I wanted to create stores where people could shop for clothes much like they shopped for books or records ,” he said in a recent interview .

Setting up his first Uniqlo store ( then called Unique Clothing Warehouse ) in 1984 , within seven short years , Tadashi had expanded to 29 stores , changed the store name to Uniqlo and the company name to

16 December 2023