Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo has sealed a joint venture to open its first stores in Bangladesh.
Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing has signed an agreement with Grameen Healthcare, run by Nobel Peace honoree Muhammad Yunus, to initially open two stores in Dhaka City.
While known for its large, poor population, Bangladesh is also a home to a 30 million strong middle class – all potential customers for Uniqlo.
“They are the first step towards a vision of a chain of multiple stores across the country, providing quality, comfortable and affordable clothing manufactured by locals, for locals,” said the joint venture Grameen Uniqlo in a statement.
In 2010, Fast Retailing and Grameen Healthcare signed a separate joint venture to help solve social problems including poverty, sanitation and education issues in Bangladesh through the planning, production and sale of clothing.
It aimed to help those living in poverty to develop job skills and provide them with opportunities to sell clothes door-to-door.
Meanwhile, Fast Retailing said last month it will not sign the safety pact in Bangladesh as it decided to conduct its own inspections and develop improvement plans for its garment workers in the country.
The safety pact in Bangladesh, supported by global retailers like H&M, PVH Corp, Inditex and Abercrombie & Fitch Co, aimed to improve the conditions of garment factories following a series of deadly factory accidents.
