The announcement sparked controversy in Japan where inflation is accelerating: Uniqlo finally decides not to increase the price of its pairs of socks by 60 cents

Uniqlo, the flagship brand of Japanese ready-to-wear giant Fast Retailing, this week canceled a planned price increase in Japan on its socks, one of its emblematic items, in the face of the emotion aroused in a country hit by persistent inflation. The company reversed its decision less than two weeks after initially announcing that it was raising a pair of basic colored socks to 390 yen (2.22 euros), compared to 290 yen (1.65 euros) until then, while ending the promotional price for several pairs purchased. An announcement which had no effect on the Tokyo Stock Exchange since the title remained practically unchanged.

At a time when Japanese households are facing strong inflationary pressures, the announcement was heavily commented on across Japan, leading some media to conclude that the brand's reputation as a "symbol of accessible fashion" could be in jeopardy. "I work full time, do household chores and raise my children. What else am I supposed to do?

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Price increases on other items The company will nevertheless continue its price increases for other selected items, notably jackets and pants, from November, mainly due to soaring manufacturing and transport costs, and the weakness of the yen. Japanese households are faced with soaring prices which affect all aspects of daily life, from eggs and vegetables to transport, in radical contrast to the deflation which had hit the archipelago for several decades. Consumer prices in Japan rose another 2.1% year-on-year in September, and inflation, exacerbated by the surge in oil prices since the spring, led the central bank to tighten rates.

“The fact that they decided not to implement this price increase suggests that they were very aware of consumers' reluctance to higher prices,” Atsushi Takeda, chief economist at the Itochu Research Institute, told Bloomberg. Many businesses once proud of low prices must now raise them, risking destabilization of their audience: the popular Saizeria restaurant chain apologized to its customers by announcing a price hike this month. “It is no longer just low-income consumers who are feeling the pressure, but consumers with slightly higher incomes are also becoming increasingly wary of rising prices,” explains Atsushi Takeda.

Japanese firms manage to pass on part of the increase in costs to consumers, but not enough to cover them entirely. The government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is trying to soften the blow to , notably with vast energy subsidies.

Machine-translated from French