Fast Retailing Co Ltd, the Japanese firm behind brands such as Uniqlo, Theory, Comptoir des Cotonniers, and J Brand has opened its first Denim Innovation Center in Los Angeles devoted to the research and development of denim fabric to support the group’s denim offering.
Fast Retailing has previously outsourced the production of samples and other operations to external manufacturers, but with the Innovation Center, the company will now be able to manage the entire process in-house. Using the latest equipment, the center will be able to quickly create and evaluate sample products, considerably enhancing the speed and quality of product development.
The center is intended to bring together specialists from premium denim brand and work in collaboration with R&D centers from various Fast Retailing Group brands to develop denim products that will transcend each brand’s limits where it focuses on the “3Fs” of jeans manufacturing, which are Fabric, Fit and Finish.
The jeans development utilises innovative technologies and materials in which it features the latest equipment for production that can be used by contracted producers as a research centre to conduct research and development on the latest eco-friendly processing and production technologies, focusing on chemicals and techniques used for fading and distressing of jeans.
In addition, the company will develop fabrics with the world’s leading denim maker, Kaihara Corporation, offering the highest quality material to people throughout the world, in an effort to create exceptional looking jeans that are comfortable to be worn at anytime of the day. De
