Brand portrait · not a test

Uniqlo

At sister brand GU the same fields were in place and empty. Here they are filled.

Published 27 July 2026 Last checked 1 August 2026 3 linked sources
Tokyo — Illustration
Illustration, not a photograph. Generated view of Tokyo, Japan, where the brand comes from.

Uniqlo

Origin
Japan
Founded
Not disclosed
Group
Fast Retailing
Production
Supplier list published
Core materials
Cotton, Wool, Polyester, Elastomultiester
Price level
1/4
Evidence score
62 of 100

How much this brand discloses, and how much of it we could verify. It is not a quality rating — a composition line cannot tell you how good a fabric is. How we calculate it

  • Production disclosure 25/25
  • Linked sources 12/20
  • Own material check 15/15
  • Fabric weight stated 0/12
  • Country stated per product 10/10
  • Construction detail stated 0/10
  • Cost breakdown published 0/8

Evidence for the price Above what this price band usually documents

What the panel says

A Supima cotton t-shirt, €19.90. Under “Manufacturing” a “Production” subsection opens, and it reads:

Place of manufacture: India, Cambodia, Vietnam
Production (knitting, weaving): India
Production (dyeing): India

So three possible countries of assembly — and beyond that two fabric stages, each with a country.

The second half is the real advance. Where the fabric was knitted and dyed is stated almost nowhere else except Theory and Mango, and neither sits in this price bracket.

A date that explains a gap

Below the details sits a note: the information on material production sites applies to products made after Autumn/Winter 2024.

That explains, in retrospect, a finding we recorded at sister brand GU. There the same fabric-origin fields are already in place but were empty — with the same seasonal note.

So the fields are prepared group-wide and filled progressively. At Uniqlo that has happened, at GU not yet. This is not one brand’s quirk but a conversion you can watch in progress.

Three countries remain three countries

For all the depth: “India, Cambodia, Vietnam” does not answer where the piece in your basket was sewn. It is the same form we found at Zara with five countries and at Louis Vuitton with three.

It is more honest than a single claim that would be wrong for most pieces. And it remains a choice rather than an answer.

705 facilities, with workforce and union status

The group publishes a list of its production partners. We opened it ourselves: 709 rows, of which 705 facilities across 17 countries, as of 2 March 2026.

The columns go well beyond name and address — product type, facility type, number of workers, share of female workers, share of migrant workers, and whether a trade union exists. It is split into garment, fabric, processing and auxiliary material factories.

That puts it among the three fullest lists in this research, alongside those of H&M and Bestseller.

Where the disclosure ends

Which of the three countries applies to a given piece.

The link between facility and brand. The list is group-wide and does not separate Uniqlo, GU or Theory.

And none of it appears in the data sheet behind the page. No origin field, although the page carries 59 product variants.

How we checked

The product page would not open for us; it was read by hand on 1 August 2026 with every panel opened. The production partner list we downloaded and counted ourselves.

Transparency facts

Verifiable statements with a source, not a rating. We publish no ethics score of our own — for that, follow the external link.

Production countries
India, Cambodia, Vietnam
Supplier list published
View the list
Known for

The products this brand is defined by. Not a ranking — we have not worn or washed any of them. Each entry says why it is here.

  • HEATTECH

    Since 2003

    Warming functional innerwear, developed from 2003 with the fibre maker Toray. The fibre absorbs body moisture and converts it into heat.

    Independent coverage

    Why it is listed here

    It is not only Uniqlo that names HEATTECH as a core product — the fibre maker Toray records the collaboration in its own corporate history. Two independent accounts of the same thing.

    Toray Industries (Unternehmenschronik) 27 July 2026

  • AIRism

    The counterpart to HEATTECH for warm days: a light synthetic fibre meant to move moisture away from the skin. Uniqlo lists it as its own material technology with a dedicated page.

    The brand’s own account

    Why it is listed here

    Uniqlo presents AIRism as a core technology itself. We have no independent confirmation — the framing here comes from the brand, and we have not tested the effect.

    Uniqlo 27 July 2026

What we can document

  • Group ownership — stated by Fast Retailing itself
  • Production partner list covering Tier 1 and Tier 2, updated twice a year
  • Consolidation of both tiers into one list as of March 2026
  • Price band — our own editorial classification, marked as such

What we cannot

  • Material composition per item — we have not yet read the product pages
  • Fabric weight and durability — no lab test, no purchase of our own
  • Working conditions at a named factory — a list is not evidence for them
  • Which factory made a specific garment

Where to buy Uniqlo

Links marked as affiliate links earn us a commission. The price does not change for you. Independent — not affiliated with the brands featured.

Sources

3 in total · archived internally
  1. Konzernübersicht — nennt die Gruppenmarken — Fast Retailing Read 27 July 2026
  2. Produktionspartnerliste — Tier 1 und Tier 2, halbjährlich aktualisiert — Fast Retailing Read 27 July 2026
  3. Produktseite — „Baggy Jeans“, 49,90 €, Materialangabe nach Bauteil getrennt — UNIQLO Deutschland Read 27 July 2026

Reader reviews of Uniqlo

These are readers’ own experiences, not an assessment by our editorial team. We do not test — we document, and we cite. Every review is checked before it appears.

No reader review yet. Yours would be the first.

Write a review
Your rating (optional)

Read on

Questions readers ask

Who owns Uniqlo?

Fast Retailing, a listed Japanese group that also owns GU and Theory, among others.

Does Uniqlo publish where it produces?

Yes, more fully than most. The group publishes a production partner list covering garment factories (Tier 1) and core fabric mills (Tier 2), updated twice a year and consolidated into a single list since March 2026.

Does that mean Uniqlo is made ethically?

No, and the list does not claim it. Disclosure documents where production happens and who the partners are. Wages and conditions at a specific site are a separate question that a factory list cannot answer.

Is Theory the same company?

Yes. Theory reads as a New York label and is American in origin and studio, but it belongs to the same Japanese group.

Brands like Uniqlo