“We are not a fashion company,Tadashi Yanai insists in a recent Fast Company profile by Jeff Chu. “We are a technology company.” Yana’s attitude is similar to many successful tech startups that have chosen to go big or go home when it comes to new ideas.
“The most serious flaw would be if someone doesn’t have the courage to try new things,” Yanai says of his employees. “At least if we fail, we will fail miserably. At least we can say we were bold.”
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What has surprised me, though, is the culture of Uniqlo itself. For a retailer, it spends a lot of time worrying about the functionality and quality of its products, and ensuring the store execution is consistent. And we spend a lot of time informing teams about where we are going and what we are doing. It really is unique.