Report by JapanConsuming
Ryohin Keikaku fired a broadside at Uniqlo last month. He confirmed that not only was their new president a former lieutenant of Tadashi Yanai, but that it plans to reduce prices to compete with Uniqlo in apparel and Nitori in homeware. Muji has big plans to become a ¥3 trillion behemoth in just 10 years with more stores in Japan than even discount apparel chain, Shimamura.
Report by Asymmetric Advisors
In Japan the likes of Uniqlo and Muji have stated they will use Xinjiang cotton, having weighed up the risks of a US/EU vs. China boycott. Timothy Morse explains that such scenarios have significant implications for Western- financed investors; by investing in companies using what Western governments consider slave labour, they will break their investment covenants. As the focus on human rights heightens, fund managers will have no choice but to eventually dump such names, leading to individual companies being derated! We will see some of these ESG criteria enshrined in law in Europe sooner rather than later.