Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing is to focus on further investing in long supplier relationships, stressing that “collective action is critical to progress”.
Speaking at a London supply-chain and sustainability event earlier this week [23 June], executives from Fast Retailing argued that long-term relationships with suppliers will be critical if the fashion industry is to cut emissions, improve traceability and secure future sources of raw materials.
The message was delivered during the company’s annual LifeWear = A New Industry event, where Fast Retailing executives Kazumi Yanai and Tomoya Utsuno were joined by independent experts including Lee Green, vice-president of marketing and communications at Cascale.
“Suppliers invest when they believe they’ve got a future,” Green told delegates.
While many fashion companies continue to source production through short-term commercial arrangements, Fast Retailing argued that decades-long relationships with manufacturing partners have helped it to achieve its sustainability milestones.
According to the company, many of its key manufacturing partners have worked with the business for more than a decade, with some relationships stretching beyond 20 years.
Executives said this gives suppliers the confidence to invest in cleaner equipment, renewable energy and factory upgrades that might otherwise be difficult to justify.
Looking beyond tier one
The discussion also repeatedly returned to a challenge facing the wider apparel sector. “Most emissions sit in the supply chain,” Green said. “They are not in a brand’s own operations.”
He argued that fragmentation remains one of the industry’s biggest obstacles, with suppliers often serving multiple brands while navigating different reporting systems, standards and expectations.
“The question is no longer whether these solutions exist,” he said. “The question is how do we create the conditions that allow them to scale.”
Fast Retailing believes part of the answer lies in moving further upstream. Yanai and Utsuno outlined efforts to extend oversight beyond garment factories and into spinning mills, yarn suppliers and farms.
Uniqlo’s owners said it completed identification of cotton spinning mills in 2023 and introduced auditing at those locations, before extending traceability work into cashmere supply chains.
The company is also developing direct relationships with raw-material suppliers. One example highlighted during the event was a pilot wool programme in Australia, designed to provide visibility from farm level through to finished garment production.
Utsuno added the aim is to create transparency throughout the chain, allowing the company to apply common standards on environmental performance, quality and human rights.
The approach reflects growing pressure on retailers to understand where raw materials originate and how they are produced. New regulations, such as digital product passports, in Europe, alongside increasing investor scrutiny, are forcing brands to look beyond first-tier suppliers and gain a clearer picture of their wider networks.
The business also presented fresh sustainability data during the event, including a decision to raise its 2030 Scope 3 emissions reduction target from 20 per cent to 30 per cent against a 2019 baseline. Scope 3 emissions , which include emissions generated throughout the supply chain, account for the overwhelming majority of a fashion retailer’s carbon footprint.
The company added that its renewable electricity now accounts for 93.5 per cent of electricity used across its stores and offices globally, while recycled polyester represents 46.4 per cent of its total polyester use.
Yet speakers acknowledged that progress remains difficult, with Green noting that coal still represents a significant proportion of the energy mix across apparel supply chains and warned that no single company could solve the challenge alone.
“These are systemic challenges, and no company can solve these by themselves,” he said. “Collective action is critical to progress.”
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