China'S Clothing Supply Chain Plays An Irreplaceable Role In Japan'S Clothing Industry

According to the Japanese Economic News website on November 3, China is an important region for garment production and sales. Fast Retailing Group (the parent company of Uniqlo and other brands) insists on investing in the Chinese market. The economy is slowing down, labor costs are rising, geopolitical risks are rising, and the trend of "de Chinesization" is spreading among international enterprises. However, Liu Jing, chairman of Fast Retailing Group, disagrees with this. He believes that "the importance of China has not changed".

Japan's domestic garment enterprises are promoting "de Chinesization", but Liuai is firmly committed to this trend. In an interview with the Japanese Economic News in late October, he said: "This is not a good way to do. It is not easy to build a large factory. It is not easy to have a scale like that of a Chinese factory."

Liujing Zheng believes that "we grow together with China and support each other to achieve the growth of China's textile industry." Since 2000, Fast Retailing Group has sent skilled workers to China, improving the local technical strength and product quality.

In the 2024 fiscal year, the total revenue of Fast Retailing Group exceeded 3 trillion yen (100 yen, about 4.66 yuan) for the first time. In addition to China, sales in Europe and North America have also increased significantly, while the production base is still Asia, which is dominated by China. Although Fast Retailing did not release the output data of each region, relevant people said that China still accounts for a large share of the total output at present.

Although Fast Retailing has expanded its production base to India and other places in recent years, its main factory in the world is still China. "We hope to increase the output of each factory without increasing the number of partners," said Shoichi Nakajima, the company's senior executive director in charge of production

At the sales level, China's sense of existence is still strong. In fiscal year 2024, the sales of China's business increased by 9% year-on-year to 677 billion yen. It is expected that the sales volume in the 2025 fiscal year is expected to reach a new high, realizing the double growth of revenue and profit.

In the process of increasing efforts to open up the European and American markets, if the clothing produced by China is levied high tariffs by European and American countries, it will undoubtedly have a huge negative impact on fast selling. Even so, Yanai made it clear that he would not leave China. (Compiled by/Liu Lin)

This is the 5G smart factory production line of a textile enterprise in Fujian (photographed on July 17). (Xinhua News Agency)

(Source: Reference message)