Uniqlo finally cancels its activity in Russia

Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo will finally suspend its activities in Russia, its parent company Fast Retailing announced on Thursday, three days after claiming that this decision was not planned immediately, prompting widespread criticism.

“As we continued our Uniqlo business in Russia, it became clear to us that we could no longer continue due to a number of difficulties.”, noted Fast Retailing, mentioning “operational problems” and “the escalation of the conflict” in Ukraine.

“Fast Retailing strongly opposes any act of hostility. We condemn all forms of aggression that violate human rights and threaten the peaceful existence of people”, the group insisted in a statement.

Comments by Fast Retailing CEO and founder Tadashi Yanai in an interview published by the Nikkei business daily on Monday had caused controversy.

“Dressing is a necessity of life. The Russians have the same right to live as we do.” declared Yanai, who tried to sound both pacifist and neutral by stressing that “there should never be a war” and that “All countries should oppose.”

“Uniqlo has decided that Russians’ basic need to have underwear and T-shirts is more important than Ukraine’s basic need to live. What a shame!”, commented the Ukrainian ambassador to Japan, Sergiy Korsunsky, on Twitter, at the same time that the hashtag #boycottUniqlo began to spread on the social network.

Fast Retailing currently has 49 Uniqlo stores in Russia, making it a smaller market for a brand that had more than 2,350 stores worldwide last November.

Other brands such as the Spanish Inditex (Zara), the Swedish H&M, the German Puma and Adidas and the American giant Nike have already suspended their activities in Russia.