Fast Retailing has established a Denim Innovation Centre in Los Angeles, a city known as the home of denim. This is the group’s first facility to focus on research and development of denim fabric, in Los Angeles, California. The facility aims to bring specialists in jeans development from premium denim brand J Brand and other companies affiliated to the Fast Retailing Group. The Centre has been established to develop jeans utilising innovative technologies and materials based on the established tradition of jeans.

In fact, its first project would be to conduct research on Uniqlo and J Brand jeans. Products developed for both brands will be available from Autumn/Winter 2017. By establishing the Denim Innovation Centre, the global hub for information on denim, Fast Retailing will be able to quickly incorporate the essence of current trends in its designs.

Moreover, the centre has a full range of in-house equipments for product development, to produce higher quality jeans. Previously, Fast Retailing outsourced production of samples and other operations to external manufacturers. But now with the Denim Innovation Centre, the company will be able to manage the entire process in-house. By using the latest equipment, the centre will be able to quickly create and evaluate sample products, enhancing the speed and quality of product development considerably.

The Centre can also be used by contracted producers as a research centre, which will increase the integrity of the finished product during actual production. In addition, the facility will focus on environmentally friendly processing and production methods, conducting R&D on chemicals and techniques used for fading and distressing of jeans.