The Troubles of Conservatism: Uniqlo's real success began with the sale of fleece jackets. In 1998, we launched the fleece jacket, transforming what was previously considered special clothing for mountaineering or hobbies into a mass-market product at an affordable price for everyone, quickly sparking a craze. This allowed Uniqlo to go from being relatively unknown to becoming a household name.
However, during the three years of strong fleece sales, due to the multiplier effect of associated sales of other products, some people developed the mistaken idea that doing business was easy — as long as the goods were restocked in time, they would sell without any promotion, making the store seem like a vending machine. As a result, armchair theorists emerged, including some individuals who had come from large companies. Instead of starting with a mindset of beginning anew, they brought along certain ingrained practices from their previous large companies and were unwilling to embrace new challenges.
At the same time, on the production side, due to the high demand, there was a constant need for additional production; while on the sales side, even if the shop functioned like a vending machine, selling well without much thought, as management personnel, it was necessary to reflect that all of this was merely the result of the fleece jackets' popularity. We must not become intoxicated by this success and must quickly correct the course of the ship.
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