The United Nations of Uniqlo

If they had a similar free delivery option as Asos Premium, would probably use them for pretty much everything.

Though I don't fully understand their ridiculously long trousers.

Edit: as per responses, make use of their alterations service!

I also am a fan of the lack of branding - the simplicity helps to complement other pieces, however I do also buy some of their UT Graphic Tees, especially since the designs are so... well, unique.

Still occasionally shop their for some niche items (longjohns spring to mind) but generally I find a store best avoided

So if you are picky about these sort of things Uniqlo tends to offer inconsistency.

Compared to those cheap brands, sure. I've mainly bought Uniqlo clothes for the last 4 years, and they've been decaying at about a slightly slower rate (maybe 0.75x) than similar brands to those you listed, but for each item, I estimate that it was probably 2-3x as expensive as their cheap counterpart.

In contrast to that, I also still wear some skateboard clothes that run in the same price range as Uniqlo and are ~10 years old by, which hold up much better (with most of the damage coming from my cat). I don't have any illusions that any of my Uniqlo stuff will last that long.

I still like Uniqlo, as they provide one of the most straightforward shopping experiences for someone who doesn't like shopping, but there is certainly room for improvement in their quality.

The quality of these clothes, especially for this price range, is extraordinary. H&M - my previous go-to shop - is utter crap in comparison.

My Uniqlo pieces generally last at least 3 years with weekly wear. That's not bad at all. In the past decade, I've thrown out maybe 2 Uniqlo shirts due to fraying. Fast-fashion produces a lot of environmental waste, so quality matters.

They're the IKEA of clothing.

> As a child Yanai [Uniqlo's founder] was scared of his father, who would beat him for not finishing his breakfast quickly or spending too much time reading after bedtime. But a sense of duty lured him home after he graduated from university and he took over the family enterprise as its employees began to retire.

Doesn't get much more Japanese than this.

They mostly sounded like they had no choice but to do as they were told, and looked very exhausted when we met them in person.

...and that's coming from a reputable, well-off company. In Japan, they have a term called "black company"[1] that is essentially abusive sweatshops, but for office work. There's literally genres of manga that start off w/ the premise of people dying of overwork at these kinds of places.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_company_(Japanese_term)

Good luck on that. General consensus out here in Asia is that western people are lazy ( but not everyone feels this way! Some people consider westerners to be lazy and nice..)

Traditional Asian culture, this is my own Non controversial opinion coming, values hard work. A bunch of people I know who work in Science park in Taiwan are actually afraid of being productive because if they were to become more efficient then suddenly they would be working so much more. No managers reward productivity out here with a shorter work day.

If the rest of the world were to mandate four day work weeks by law, and flourish doing such, then the companies out here would rub their hands together greedily because they will dominate with their work culture and punishingly long hours.

So much about Japan is best in the world but their work culture is soul crushing.

But things are slowly changing though. Those that are younger generation ( Comparatively Speaking ) are in middle to higher management roles are more open and less hostile, so you start seeing a few Japanese companies picking up actual productivity increase and competing.

There is also "reverse racism" prevalent. i.e. if you are Korean (or Kor-Am) and are working for a Korean corporation, you might be judged on different standards than a coworker who is not Korean, or not East Asian. You're expected to work harder and more "passionately" for no extra compensation just because some vague notion of nationalistic/ethnistic Korean Pride.

I've interviewed at some of the big Japanese conglomerates too, and I got exactly the same feeling as I did with Korean companies.

I've come to the conclusion that I will never work for an East Asian company again barring some earth shattering changes to their corporate culture. Many of my ex-colleagues say the same.

I don't know what the right answer is, but I've worked in Asia as part of a multinational company and always felt weird about requiring pictures for job applications. There were also comments regarding female candidates that would definitely be considered unacceptable in the US but is normal there.

They seem to be going through a wierd cut phase, which accentuates men's chest in an awkward way and looks like dad wear unless you are really slim/athletic, but I hope it is temporary thing. (or maybe I just need to get in better shape)

Something that has always fascinated me, though, is the irony of Japan being one of the leaders in street and urban fashion.

I just read somewhere that their plan from 2017-2020 is to increase the number of stores in Europe from 50 to 100.

For comparison H&M has 100 stores in Belgium alone.

And this is why I shop at Uniqlo, not at H&M or Zara. I like to ensure that my favourite basics will always be available for repurchase 2+ years after the original purchase, so I can replace a worn item.

Uniqlo actually does this too, just in a rather different way. The company tends to make annual revisions to various products, sometimes changing minor things like cutting the shoulders more closely (which may even be mentioned, changelog-style on Uniqlo.com) to completely restyling the garment.

As an example of the latter, I had been thinking about getting one of their mountain parkas last year but decided to wait. The 2020 revision looks very different – fortunately in a way I still liked – but if I’d had my heart set on the 2019 version (or I had an older version that I needed to replace), I’d have been out of luck.