Better societies: A Uniqlo owned Gap

A couple of weeks ago exciting rumours started to appear in the wonderful world of retail. That Japanese casual clothing chain, and long time favorites, Uniqlo was preparing a bid on the mismanaged US clothing company Gap.

Already in Issue 22, Tadashi Yanai founder of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, hinted that they would enter the US market through a large acquisition.

…the US is so big that there is no use in putting one store here and another there. So it comes back to the M&A story again. We want to purchase a company about the same size as us and use it as a platform to bring Uniqlo to all parts of the US.

The most obvious winners of this deal would be the American public. A society without neon colored polo shirts with popped collars is a society that can develop, that can move forward. Maybe even Monocle will recognize the benefits of this change, and we might see a US city on next year’s Most livable Cities list (alright we know Honolulu was on this year’s list, but really? Honolulu? Let’s call that a sponsorship…) . The best description of what Uniqlo would do for Gap is provided by The Cut

Because unlike Gap, Uniqlo is impossible to avoid. Need jeans in a pinch? Uniqlo. Have no plans to purchase anything but just feel like walking into a store with pretty colors? Walk into Uniqlo, walk out with an interesting, stylish $19 T-shirt dress. Can’t stand American Apparel but need basics? We could go on. It’s what Gap should be — though with Hamptons flavor and a slightly more subdued color palette.