Uniqlo, known for its quality fashionable basic casual clothes for men and women, will soon open its first Philippine branch at the SM Mall of Asia.

Fans of Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo will be happy that it will soon open its first store in the Philippines. Uniqlo, which is well known for its T-shirts, jeans and inner wear, is being brought to the country by the SM Group in partnership with Japan’s Fast Retailing Corp., through subsidiary Market 

Watch Investment Corp.

The first Uniqlo in the Philippines will be a 1,550-sqm in Mall of Asia, Pasay City. It opens in June. The brand will be one of Mall of Asia’s largest tenants. “The joint venture is expected to create excitement in the dynamic local retail market as it will bring to Manila a global brand known for its high-quality fashionable basic casual clothes for both sexes that can be worn in any occasion,” SM Retail said in a statement.

SM Retail also brought Forever 21 to the country.

Fast Retailing bared plans to build 15 to 20 stores in three years. Under the Philippines Retail Act, each retail outlet would be required with a minimum investment of $830,000 or an estimated investment of $16.6 million for 20 outlets.

Uniqlo began in 1949 when the company Ogori Shoji was set up in Yamaguchi and operated Men’s Shops OS. In 1984, the company opened a unisex casual clothing store in Hiroshima under the name Unique Clothing Warehouse. Thus began the shortened Uniqlo name, and Ogori Shoji became Fast Retailing.

Fast Retailing opened its first Uniqlo store in Japan in 1984 and began its expansion into international markets in 1991 by launching stores in the UK, and subsequently launching ventures in 

China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United States, France, Singapore and Russia. As of the end of February 2011, Uniqlo has 824 stores in Japan and 150 stores in other markets overseas. It recently opened a store in Bangkok. Uniqlo has teamed up with several designers for different projects, including Jil Sander who signed up as a consultant in 2009. It has collaborated with Costello Tagliapietra and Vena Cava.

Uniqlo’s entry into the Philippiunes market is part of its global expansion strategy which started in 2001 when it opened a store in London.

“The Philippine market is important to Uniqlo because we want to be number one in Asia,” said FR 

Philippines chief executive officer Katsumi Kubota.

“SM reaches out to a wide range of customers in the Philippines and Uniqlo wants to reach out to a wide range of customers also,” he added.

“Uniqlo is rapidly growing in Asia. The Philippines is one of the fastest growing regions in the world today,” said Fast Retail Group executive vice president Naoki Otoma.

Uniqlo employs a global pricing policy but Kubota said they would like to make the products affordable to Filipino consumers.