Uniqlo hitted by South Korean consumer boycott

Fast-fashion chain Uniqlo is suffering from the South Korean consumer boycott of Japanese goods.

“We can confirm that there has been an impact on the sales in Korea,” a spokeswoman for Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing told Reuters. She declined to release any figures, however.

The two countries are involved in a diplomatic row relating to disagreements over the compensation for forced laborers during Japan’s occupation of Korea during the second world war. That dispute has spilled over into the populations with Japanese products in South Korea being boycotted by shoppers as a form of protest.

Uniqlo has nearly 200 stores in South Korea, selling around US$1.3 billion worth of clothing annually, equal to about 6.6 percent of its total sales. The South Korean consumer boycott may lead to delays in new stores opening if it continues