is now much higher away from the warehouse the companys stores are looking brighter and more attuned to american tastes than before said neil saunders a retail analyst at globaldata but uniqlo may have misread the market by swearing off discounting low prices are interesting to the us consumer and they do work but sometimes people like those bargains and getting a sense theyre getting a great deal he said and uniqlo doesnt necessarily offer that xinjiang a risk uniqlo best known for its fleeces and inexpensive basics first entered north american in 2005 and now plans to open 30 stores a year until it reaches 200 in the next five years branching out of major cities like new york and san francisco along the way into more spreadout locales like texas and florida the company estimates the region will produce 300 billion yen in annual sales by 2027 and aims to raise operating profit margins to 20 from more than 5 now regional chief tsukagoshi said that will be possible by reducing logistics and marketing costs and also via lower rents beyond large cities some are sceptical the expansion and profitability goals appear a bit too ambitious as fast retailing hasnt reached 20 margins even in its home market of japan said lightstream research analyst kumarasiri one risk to the companys plans could lie in its dependence on manufacturing in china where human rights concerns have swirled around labour and cotton produced in the xinjiang region while there has been no sign of a us consumer boycott so far fast retailing has not disavowed the use of xinjiang cotton unlike rivals including swedens hm a shipment of uniqlo shirts was blocked at the port of los angeles last year on suspicion of violating a ban on the material also french prosecutors last year opened an investigation into the company and three other retailers suspected of concealing crimes against humanity in xinjiang prosecutors didnt respond to a request for comment and it wasnt immediately clear what stage the investigation has reached the company has denied the allegations and has said it doesnt tolerate human rights violations among suppliers and vendors china denies all accusations of abuse in the region reuters published on sep 2 2022 at 0100 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app uniqlo apparel fashion fashion retail retailers inflation fast retailing revenue profitability homenewsamid us retail gloom uniqlo shines on covidtriggered revamp