After The Epidemic, UNIQLO And Gap Are Hard To Expand

The global epidemic has had a great impact on the whole fashion industry, which makes the fast fashion brands which have been in a dilemma of development even worse. Since 2020, many fast fashion brands have closed their stores one after another to reduce losses.

More than a year later, the aftermath of the epidemic is still continuing, and the pace of fast fashion brand closing has not slowed down.

　 Uniqlo

Recently, according to Japanese media reports, UNIQLO, a fast fashion brand, plans to close its global flagship store in shinzakibashi, Osaka, in August, and its products will be placed in the nearby sister brand Gu stores.

It is reported that this store is UNIQLO's first global flagship store, opened in October 2020, with a huge flow of people. It was once one of the shopping spots for Chinese tourists.

As for the closing of the store, fast retailing group explained that the impact of the epidemic led to the decrease of inbound tourists and the store lease contract was about to expire.

In order to deal with the impact of the epidemic, UNIQLO has made a lot of efforts before. For example, in January, UNIQLO closed its global flagship store in Seoul, South Korea, and in March, it cut prices on Japanese products. Now it plans to close another global flagship store, which will reduce UNIQLO's global flagship stores to 14.

　　 GAP

Coincidentally, recently, gap group, an American clothing giant, also announced its strategic adjustment. It decided to close all gap specialty and gap outlet stores in Britain and Ireland in a planned and phased manner from the end of August to September, with a total of 81 stores.

Before that, gap development has been in a state of gradual decline. The fourth quarter of 2020 financial report shows that global regional sales are in a downward trend. After withdrawing from the European market, the news of the sale of China business in March 2021 came out. It seems that the fast fashion road of gap is entering a period of rapid transition.