Inside Uniqlo Denim Innovation Center

Fast Retailing has shown its Jeans Innovation Center (JIC) in Los Angeles.

Fast Retailing, behind fashion brands such as Uniqlo, J Brand, Theory and others, organized a global media event in which its Jeans Innovation Center (JIC) was shown from the inside. The event featured information about JIC itself, as well as demonstrations of innovative technologies used in the production of jeans.

The Jeans Innovation Center is located in Los Angeles. It was founded to create new types of fabrics that would combine the latest technology, not forgetting about the long tradition of denim clothing production. The history of the center began very recently – in 2016. Nevertheless, the techniques that were used in the development of jeans Uniqlo autumn/winter 2019 season have already been developed. This collection should be available in August. At the same time, according to Masaaki Matsubara, chief operating officer of JIC, by 2020 all Uniqlo jeans will be created with the participation of the center.

The launch of JIC has allowed Fast Retailing to develop new models of jeans on its own, and the company no longer needs to engage outside experts. We are particularly proud of the fact that the innovation center makes it possible to make production more “green.” For example, JIC uses Ozone Washing technology to clean the jeans from excess dye, which washes the fabric without water. This makes it possible to reduce the use of water in the production process by an impressive 90% at once.

The production time is also significantly reduced, the need for chemicals is reduced, and less manual labor is used. And the laser engraving system makes it possible to simplify the process of applying patterns to the fabric.

And by 2025, the company plans to completely switch to 100% stable cotton when sewing all kinds of clothing. There are also plans to reduce the use of plastic by 85% by 2020.