Tadashi Quotes

#1. What I love about Tadashi is that he isn't a designer that designs only for a double-zero. He designs for double-Ds, you know? Women of all shapes and sizes can wear him.

Octavia Spencer

#2. Am I famous in Japan? I don't know, and I don't really think of myself in that way.

Tadashi Shoji

#3. So, in the tulip, we have a flower of beauty and grace of charm, refinement and distinction. It is a powerful flower and it knows it

Tadashi Shoji

#4. Anyone can wear my dresses. They will look good on any figure, no matter what shape you are. I want to celebrate a woman's inner strength, to inspire real women and make them feel confident and beautiful.

Tadashi Shoji

#5. I design to make women feel confident and beautiful.

Tadashi Shoji

#6. Japan's biggest problems are conservatism and cowardice.

Tadashi Yanai

#7. We are a country of artisans and a country of manufacturing. I think Japanese textile technology is the best in the world.

Tadashi Yanai

#8. Opening new stores outside of Japan is important, but training our employees is even more important.

Tadashi Yanai

#9. As I get older, I find that wearing bright colors cheers me up.

Tadashi Shoji

#10. The biggest part of my job now is to quickly develop successors, and around the world I am working to develop new business leaders in the company.

Tadashi Yanai

#11. When I was young, about 18 or 19, I read all the Dostoyevsky novels, which made me want to go to St. Petersburg. So I went, and I was so inspired.

Tadashi Shoji

#12. Wal-Mart is an amazing success story. What I particularly admire very much about the late Sam Walton was his policy of valuing his employees. Giving value to employees is very rare in the retail industry. I also admire the strategies Walton used to build up his discount store concept.

Tadashi Yanai

#13. ...to live and to die. Can living just for the sake of living, without having any objectives, be categorized as truely living? Or is it simply another form of death?

Tadashi Kawashima

#14. There are two impulses in theatre: to be frivolous or to make rules.

Tadashi Suzuki

#15. Too often, we have tended to fall into a trap of creating plain hamburgers.

Tadashi Yanai

#16. So many designers only sketch and leave pattern-making to others. Pattern-making is important so you know the structure. Then if someone tells me, 'I can't make a pattern from that sketch,' I can tell them, 'I will make it' and then they are quiet. If I can't make it, I don't design it.

Tadashi Shoji

#17. Our underwear used to just be cotton, but we wanted to see if we could create something out of synthetics.

Tadashi Yanai

#18. At Uniqlo, we're thinking ahead. We're thinking about how to create new, innovative products ... and sell that to everyone.

Tadashi Yanai

#19. You have to be a crazy guy and a little eccentric to be very successful.

Tadashi Yanai

#20. There's almost a T-shirt feeling to wearing my evening dresses.

Tadashi Shoji

#21. More than trends, consumers need functionality. Everything needs an element of fashion, but that's more like a spice.

Tadashi Yanai

#22. America, for me, is the country where, if you have something great to offer, you'll be valued highly.

Tadashi Yanai

#23. As a businessperson, I don't have the power to change the government. That is in the hands of the political leaders. However, as a taxpayer, we have the right to be critical of the government and demand change.

Tadashi Yanai

#24. I think I may not be able to retire.

Tadashi Yanai

#25. Japanese businesspeople and companies are lacking in individuality.

Tadashi Yanai

#26. I'm afraid Japanese people tend to collective hysteria.

Tadashi Yanai

#27. The air of the English is down-to-earth. They care about details; there's a tradition, but there's also a counter-culture: the younger generation versus the older generation and so on. But then that's well blended into a happy balance and crystallised into common sense.

Tadashi Yanai

#28. At first, Uniqlo was a casual chain on the back streets of Hiroshima. Then ... we became a national brand in Japan. So, the next step is to become a global brand.

Tadashi Yanai

#29. Politicians make decisions in favor of their interest groups or their supporters back in their hometowns.

Tadashi Yanai

#30. I like quiet. No television cameras. I'm not the Hollywood type.

Tadashi Shoji

#31. I do not discriminate about size. I design dresses to accentuate a woman's positives, whether you are a size 0 or a size 3X.

Tadashi Shoji

#32. The world's major metropolitan cities are more or less the same.

Tadashi Yanai

#33. If you always think about your dreams or goals, work steadfastly towards them and continue to challenge yourself, you will definitely be able to realise those dreams or goals.

Tadashi Yanai

#34. People say that globalisation has negative aspects, but I don't believe globalisation is bad. It's criticised from a western perspective, but if you put yourself in the shoes of people in the developing world, it provides an unprecedented opportunity.

Tadashi Yanai

#35. Our international success started out first because we became the No. 1 casual wear brand in our home market of Japan. Then, we set up stores in the world's major fashion centers of New York, Paris and London.

Tadashi Yanai

#36. The Asian brand, which I admire for having become a global success, is Samsung. In comparison, we're just starting, but I believe that we at Uniqlo will be the next Asian brand to do well globally.

Tadashi Yanai

#37. It's a Japanese way of thinking, that I give value for my merchandise. So I don't want to sell unnecessarily expensive dresses and make just 10 or 20 and then feel satisfied. I want to design for real women who can afford my dresses.

Tadashi Shoji

#38. My brother told me he was very proud of me, of the business I have built, and that gives me joy.

Tadashi Shoji

#39. Don't wear dresses that are too tight. A size number is just a number. If the fit is comfortable, it will look more elegant.

Tadashi Shoji

#40. Konosuke Matsushita was a visionary entrepreneur. He started working very young as a teenager, and he eventually created Panasonic to become a truly global company.

Tadashi Yanai

#41. I am not really brand-conscious; I pick out clothes that appeal to me regardless of the label, but I consider my style very American.

Tadashi Shoji

#42. Japan has only 100m people. Asia has 4bn. At least one-third, maybe nearly half, will become middle class, and this is a big opportunity for Japanese businessmen.

Tadashi Yanai

#43. Time flies so quick. I remember my second year in business when Bullocks Wilshire did a whole window of my white dresses. I was so excited, I went there at night and took pictures.

Tadashi Shoji

#44. Forty-five years ago, when I was 18, I came to San Francisco by boat and took two weeks to get here. I had a great impression. I think San Francisco is the welcoming gate for people from Asia.

Tadashi Yanai

#45. People shouldn't have to spend a lot of money to get high-quality clothing.

Tadashi Yanai

#46. In general, the apparel industry isn't about continual process improvement or making the perfect piece of denim; it's about chasing trends.

Tadashi Yanai

#47. Using a forecasting company is like going to a fortune-teller. If you believe the company and the color does not sell, who do you blame? The forecasters? No, you blame yourself.

Tadashi Shoji

#48. I think like a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Failure is a great teacher. At the same time, you must remember, success will never last ... Whether it's tech or fashion, it must be for the customer.

Tadashi Yanai

#49. I hate politics. What they say and what they do is completely different.

Tadashi Yanai

#50. I learned that people don't buy anything from unknown stores.

Tadashi Yanai

#51. It is clothes. It is parts. Therefore, you combine the parts differently to create your own unique expression.

Tadashi Yanai

#52. I tell people that we must have the courage to share what we feel, but no one follows me.

Tadashi Yanai

#53. I might look successful but I've made many mistakes. People take their failures too seriously. You have to be positive and believe you will find success next time.

Tadashi Yanai

#54. Americans believe cotton is best, but we've invented new fabrics that will change your lifestyle.

Tadashi Yanai

#55. Everyone thinks the fashion business is so glamorous. It's completely the opposite.

Tadashi Shoji