UNIQLO

Fast Retailing Co. Ltd., which owns the UNIQLO clothing chain, started its collaboration with us in 2006. UNIQLO became UNHCR’s first global partner in Asia in 2011.

The company’s support is multi-faceted, including in-kind contribution of clothing donated by UNIQLO customers, employment of refugees in Asia and Europe, support for UNHCR’s advocacy activities, and substantial financial contributions to enhance the lives of refugees in Asia and during emergencies.

“We will continue to supply refugees with the clothes they need and give them hope for better lives, in keeping with our never-ending desire for a sustainable and peaceful world.”

Tadashi Yanai, Chairman, President and CEO of Fast Retailing

In recognition of the need for international organizations and private enterprise to collaborate more closely for refugees, at the end of 2015, UNIQLO and UNHCR strengthened their partnership to support forcibly displaced people around the world.

Under the new agreement, the Tokyo-based company committed USD 10 million over three years. The funds help UNHCR respond to emergencies and other acute humanitarian crises, and provide refugees in Asia with training and skills development to become self-reliant.

Another important component of our global partnership with UNIQLO is the distribution of donated clothing to refugees. To date, through its All-Product Recycling Initiative, Fast Retailing has collected and, through UNHCR, distributed more than 20 million items of clothing to refugees across 45 countries.

UNIQLO has also started employing refugees in its retail shops in Japan, providing them training, including Japanese language classes, and opening doors to further employment opportunities within the company. UNIQLO plans to scale up this employment and training scheme to benefit more refugees in the future.

Key stats and figures

More than 20 million items of lightly used clothing donated to UNHCR across 45 countries since the start of the partnership.
In 2017, UNHCR acknowledged in-kind donations of 5,110,022 items of clothing donated by UNIQLO, bringing the total received so far during the partnership to over 20 Million pieces. These were donated to 15 countries.
From the beginning of the partnership: USD 13 million of financial support donated and pledged.
In 2017, 7,334 refugees and other UNHCR’s persons of concern were reached through UNIQLO’s financial contribution to livelihoods programmes in 5 countries in Asia (India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Republic of Iran). Read the report