From cleaning a clothing store, brushing the jackets in his early years, to now sitting on top of Japan’s richest?list, 74-year-old Tadashi Yanai has had an inspirational journey.
With $36.9 billion current net worth (as per Forbes), Tadashi is Japan’s richest person at present. He is the founder and president of Fast Retailing, which is the parent company of the Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo.?
74-year-old Yanai wants Uniqlo to become the world's largest retailer, which means it would have to surpass bigger brands such as H&M and Inditex (parent of Zara).
For Yanai, the complexities of retail?began as a young boy, with deeply ingrained learnings from a childhood spent working in the men’s clothing store owned by his father in the small town of Ube,?in Yamaguchi Prefecture of southwestern Japan.
The first few years proved to be a steep learning curve for Yanai, and no less than a crash course in running a business.?“I needed to clean the store, brush the jackets, (do the) sourcing – I literally had to do everything myself because there was nobody else,” he had said, as per CEO World. “It was a huge learning opportunity.”
After graduating from Waseda University in 1971 with a degree in economics and political science, and having spent a few years working for a supermarket chain and travelling the world, Yanai finally returned to his father’s shop, then called Ogori Shoji. The billionaire later changed its name to?Fast Retailing?in 1991.
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In 1984, Yanai opened Uniqlo's first store, in Japan's Hiroshima. He had big ideas and an even bigger plan for (fashion) world domination.?Inspired by European and American brands such as Benetton, Gap and Esprit that he’d seen during his travels, Yanai set to work transplanting the model of mass-made casual apparel chains into Japan. In 1991, he changed the company name from Ogori Shoji to the more globally identifiable Fast Retailing.
By 1998, Uniqlo had more than 300 stores across Japan, and was kicking profit goals and gaining popularity across Japan.
In spite of its popularity, the brand had gained the unflattering reputation of “cheap and shoddy”. Determined to turn things around, Yanai embarked on a mission to revamp Uniqlo’s image.?In 2004, the company announced its Global Quality Declaration, a pledge to stop making low-priced, low-quality garments. “I want to be valued for offering good clothes,” Yanai said at the time. “To be known for being cheap is sad”, as per the report.
Innovation became Uniqlo’s new number-one priority.?Each year, the products improved in imperceptible ways. In 2005, Fast Retailing adopted a holding company structure, making Uniqlo a wholly owned subsidiary which Yanai also heads up as CEO.
While he’s been delaying the idea of a possible retirement for many years, Yanai shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. “I believe that the founder of a company never truly retires, and my passion for business remains as strong as ever,” he said in a statement released in March.
“Having said that, my most important job is to nurture the next generation of leaders.” In particular, Yanai has expressed his desire for his successor to be female, saying, “The job is more suitable for a woman, (because they) are persevering, detail-oriented and have an aesthetic sense.”?
As for his wealth, which is estimated at US$28.9 billion, Yanai insists he has no interest in money. “I would describe myself as a very average man,” he told The Financial Times.
“I’m not extraordinary. I don’t think I was cut out to be making all this money. I have long prioritised being fair, doing something good for society.”?He is also pragmatic about his success.
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“I might look successful, but I’ve made many mistakes,” Yanai told Monocle, as per the report. “People take their failures too seriously.” During his decades in the industry, the entrepreneur has discovered that above all else, businesses need to be adaptable – keeping in mind not just the unpredictable flux of fashion, but also the ever-evolving society we live in.
Yanai has long voiced his opinion that Uniqlo is “not a fashion company, (but) a technology company”.?74YO Yanai’s determination, drive and grit have propelled his company through various challenges, global recessions, the initial failures of opening international stores, and recently, a pandemic.
“The world is constantly changing,” he told The Star in 2010. “To succeed in this environment, you need to make mistakes, fail, learn from them and move on.”
In 2019, Yanai resigned as an independent director from the board of SoftBank Group after 18 years.
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