A 60‑centime hike on socks rattles Uniqlo: what does the uproar in Japan reveal?
The textile giant Uniqlo aimed to raise sock prices by 34%. However, the increase failed to resonate with Japanese consumers, who were already feeling the pinch of inflation.
Morale in the socks at 1.60 euros: this is a possible description of the Japanese consumer in the face of the recent outcry triggered by the price increase by Uniqlo on this most common product. An outcry which shows the feverishness of a population faced with the emergence of inflation in daily life, after thirty years of deflation.
Uniqlo clothing, father of the lifestyle style, which can be worn at any time of daily life, has almost reached the rank of necessity products in Japan. The clothing giant's offering, basic but solid and elegant, with unbeatable "cos-pa" (cost performance, or value for money), has made it indispensable to the Japanese. Uniqlo is also an object of national pride, a rare contemporary mass-market brand (along with, to a lesser extent, Muji) to have conquered the planet. Its founder, the all-powerful Tadashi Yanai, has revealed extraordinary flair over (that's the word) the years, often guessing trends before anyone else.
Tadashi Yanai: the iron fist behind the Uniqlo empire
This time, Uniqlo announced the price increase on around ten items, putting forward an overall increase of “around 4%”. In this, he was only following a general movement of companies which, all of them, have resigned themselves to increasing prices for several years.
Like them, he cited “rising costs of raw materials and logistics, as well as the continued impact of the weakness of the yen” to justify his increase. Alas: Internet users noted that the specific price of socks had jumped by 34%, going from 290 (1.60 euros) to 390 yen (2.20 euros), triggering a “digital bronca” on X which forced Uniqlo to, ultimately, cancel the said increase. “As socks are an essential everyday item, we have reconsidered our planned price revision in Japan,” explained Fast Retailing, parent company of Uniqlo, in a press release on Tuesday.
Suffering inflation and the impression that businesses are profiting from it
What are Uniqlo socks named after? After thirty years of deflation and stagnant wages, the Japanese are in an inflationary era. On Friday, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda estimated that core inflation had reached 2%. Problem: this mainly comes from the increase in imported products (energy and agri-food), themselves subject to international inflation, and purchased with a weak yen. However, to the great dismay of households, prices in Japan are rising faster than wages. Inflation is particularly painful on essential products.
Machine-translated from French
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