UNIQLO to Donate Clothing and Volunteers to Areas Affected by Hurricane Sandy

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UNIQLO, the global clothing retailer, announced today the creation of a 10-week volunteer and donation program to distribute 100,000 donated items of HEATTECH and 10,000 items of Ultra Light Down jackets to those in regions affected by Hurricane Sandy. The donated HEATTECH items are for men, women and kids and include long-sleeve t-shirts and tights, while the Ultra Light Down jackets and parkas are for men and women.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121210/NY26529 )

The program will organize volunteers to visit local communities to deliver nearly $2.3 million worth of warm clothing to the New York and New Jersey areas hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. Each weekend starting December 8th, UNIQLO will send buses of 25-50 volunteers that will include both UNIQLO employees and customers. UNIQLO is partnering with the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, the New York City Housing Authority, the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, and the State of New Jersey, Department of State and the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund to select the locations most in need. Anyone who is interested in volunteering can visit www.uniqlo.com for more information.

"At UNIQLO and our parent company Fast Retailing we understand how important it is to channel resources directly to the places they are most needed. That is why during this time of challenging recovery, UNIQLO believes that it is our privilege to support the communities in which we do business by bringing our two most important resources to the areas and people most affected by this tragedy – our clothing, and equally importantly, enabling our employees and customers to donate their time, especially as temperatures begin to drop this season," said Shin Odake, CEO of UNIQLO USA.

UNIQLO has a been a member of the New York community since 2006 when it opened its first U.S. store in SoHo, and has a strong presence in the New York City metro area with its North American headquarters in lower Manhattan, three flagship stores in Manhattan and its first mall location in Paramus, New Jersey. UNIQLO also recently opened its first west coast location in San Francisco.

UNIQLO's guiding principal is changing the world through clothing, and the company is hopeful that the innovation it has put into its heat retaining clothing technology will provide comfort and value to people affected by Hurricane Sandy throughout the winter season.

For further information on volunteer locations, please log on to www.UNIQLO.com

Commitment to CSR
UNIQLO and parent company Fast Retailing pursue a CSR strategy in line with their core business philosophy: "Changing clothes. Changing conventional wisdom. Change the world." Together the companies seek to complete their CSR strategy through a number of initiatives, such as UNIQLO's successful response to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. UNIQLO launched the UNIQLO Recovery Assistance Project, successfully donating the equivalent of 3.29 billion yen in total aid through eSave Japanf t-shirts, customer donations, clothing assistance and more.

In addition to providing aid during disasters, UNIQLO proactively pursues initiatives that contribute to society. In October of 2012 UNIQLO launched an initiative called "Clothes for Smiles," a program developed in collaboration with top professional tennis player and UNIQLO Global Brand Ambassador Novak Djokovic. Through this initiative, the company established a $10 million fund to bring smiles to kids all over the world, nuturing their dreams and giving them the tools to build a better and brighter future. The fund was established with a portion of the sales of HEATTECH and Ultra Light Down items during the 2012 fall/winter season worldwide.

About HEATTECH
HEATTECH is the smart way to stay warm and comfortable in cold weather. Developed by UNIQLO and Toray Industries, the world's leading fiber maker, this revolutionary material keeps you warm by retaining body heat. Now you can dress more inventively in cold weather by taking advantage of this sheer, innovative fashion technology from Japan. HEATTECH has sold nearly 300 million items worldwide in the form of under shirts, turtlenecks, leggings and more since its 2003 launch and continues to deliver warmth to winters across the globe.

About Ultra Light Down
Ultra Light Down's lightweight quality makes it perfect both as outer wear for early fall and as a middle layer worn beneath outer garments in the cold winter months. UNIQLO's new line of Ultra Light Down is set to transform the way people around the world dress this fall and winter. The secret of Ultra Light Down's popularity is the unmatched combination of lightness, thinness and warmth it offers through proven technologies co-developed by UNIQLO and leading textiles maker Toray Industries. Ultra Light Down is truly a breakthrough product that allows customers to wear light fashionable outfits even on the coldest winter days.

About UNIQLO and Fast Retailing
UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co. (FR), a leading global Japanese retail holding company that designs, manufactures and sells clothing under six main brands: Comptoir des Cotonniers, g.u., Helmut Lang, Princesse tam.tam, Theory, and UNIQLO. With global sales of 928 billion yen for the 2012 fiscal year ending August 31, 2012, FR is the world's fourth largest apparel retail company and UNIQLO is Japan's leading specialty retailer.

Today UNIQLO has more than 1,100 stores in 13 markets, namely in Japan, China, France, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, U.K. and U.S. UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stores in some of the world's most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a truly global brand. UNIQLO operates an integrated business model under which it designs, manufactures, markets and sells high-quality, casual apparel in line with its eMade for Allf philosophy.

With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, FR is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. For more information about UNIQLO and other FR brands, please visit www.uniqlo.com or www.fastretailing.com

SOURCE UNIQLO