After the Uniqlo boom, Fast Retaling bets on Gu and appoints Francesco Risso as its creative director
The Japanese group with more than $23 billion in revenues wants to develop the brand created in 2006, designed for a young target group and so far only present in Japan and the United States: 'It has the same potential as Uniqlo'
By opening shops all over the world (there are now more than 2500) and also landing in Italy in 2019 (in Milan, and in 2024 in Rome), Uniqlo has become the most important brand of the Japanese colossus Fast Retailing, which is now focusing on the development of its "younger" brother, actually second in terms of turnover but whose global distribution and notoriety is still to be built. With this in mind, to support the growth of Gu, this is the name of the brand, Fast Retailing has appointed as its first creative director the designer Francesco Risso, already the head of Marni from 2016 to last year, who will debut his first collection for autumn-winter 26-27.
Risso will also be the author of a new collection for Uniqlo, thus enriching the list of designers collaborating with the brand, starting with Jonathan Anderson, who continues to sign garments and accessories for Uniqlo (with great success, as evidenced by the case of the highly sought-after cropped shirt) even after being appointed creative director of the women's and men's collections of Dior. In 2024, Clare Waight Keller, former creative director of Givenchy, took over the same role for Uniqlo, after having signed a few collections.
Let us now better understand what brand Gu is, starting with the meaning of the term, which in Japanese means 'freedom' (jiyu) and is pronounced 'jee-you'. Founded in 2006, it targets younger consumers who are very attentive to novelties and trends as far as pricing is concerned (Gu's prices are slightly lower than Uniqlo's) and today has about 480 shops in Asia, with active e-commerce sites in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its debut beyond the borders of its home continent only came in 2024, when Gu opened its first flagship store in SoHo, New York, following an exploratory launch of a pop-up store in 2022, also opening its first global digi-store. 'Gu has the same potential as Uniqlo,' Takeshi Okazaki, Fast Retaling's Chief Financial Officer, had said at the New York opening, 'We can open as many stores as Uniqlo has.
Gu, in fact, is the second largest brand by sales of the Fast Retaling group, which has eight brands in its portfolio (in addition to Uniqlo and Gu, it also includes Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand and Helmut Lang). The group closed its fiscal year 2025 on 31 August with a turnover of 3.4 trillion yen, or about 23.16 billion dollars, revenues that have practically doubled in nine years and make the giant founded in 1963, and which launched Uniqlo in 1984, one of the largest global clothing groups. While in the same fiscal year Uniqlo alone had sales of USD 18.7 billion (+10.6% in Japan, +11.1% abroad), Gu recorded about USD 2.12 billion, up 3.6% from the previous year.
It is precisely in New York that Gu will have its global headquarters, where the collections will be developed, but also those marketing strategies that aim to make it a brand as well-known as Uniqlo, following the 'Go Global' plan developed by the group.
