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Private company

GU

Logo: Kashiwa Satō, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Japanese clothing brand

GU (Japanese: ジーユー, Hepburn: jīyū) is a Japanese discount casual wear designer, manufacturer, and retailer. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo. The name is a pun of the word jiyū (自由), meaning "liberty, freedom" and its slogan means "more freedom in fashion" (ファッションを、もっと自由に, fasshon o, motto jiyū ni).2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Nov 1950Founded1

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GU (Japanese: ジーユー, Hepburn: jīyū) is a Japanese discount casual wear designer, manufacturer, and retailer. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo. The name is a pun of the word jiyū (自由), meaning "liberty, freedom" and its slogan means "more freedom in fashion" (ファッションを、もっと自由に, fasshon o, motto jiyū ni). Its signature product is a pair of jeans costing 990 Japanese yen ($9.02 USD), though they ceased production in January 2014. As of 28 February 2025, there are 478 locations globally.2

Corporate structure

GU is part of a group headed by Fast Retailing. 15 entities, 6 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Fast Retailing 山口県 山口市, Japan
    • GU 100% · Yamaguchi
    • Uniqlo 山口県 山口市, Japan
    • Comptoir des Cotonniers Subsidiary · Paris, France
    • J Brand Subsidiary · Los Angeles
    • 에프알엘코리아 주식회사 Subsidiary · 51% · Seoul, South Korea
    • FAST RETAILING USA, INC. Subsidiary · New York, New York, United States
    • Helmut Lang Subsidiary
    • PLST Subsidiary · Japan
    • Princesse Tam-Tam Subsidiary
    • Theory Subsidiary · United States
    • UNIQLO (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD. Subsidiary · Singapore, Singapore
    • UNIQLO EUROPE LTD Subsidiary · London, United Kingdom
    • 株式会社ジーユー Subsidiary · 山口県 山口市, Japan
    • 株式会社リンク・セオリー・ジャパン Subsidiary · 山口県 山口市, Japan

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

GU opened its first shop in Chiba Prefecture in October 2006 as a more affordable concept in fashion than Uniqlo. In September 2013, the company opened its first overseas shop in Shanghai, later expanding to Taiwan in September 2014 and South Korea in September 2018. In October 2022, GU opened its first pop-up shop in the United States in New York City, selecting SoHo, Manhattan to test out the North American market. GU opened its first permanent global flagship store on 19 September 2024, directly opposite from its former location. The pop-up store closed on 31 July 2024, shortly before the flagship store's grand opening.

From Wikipedia’s article on GU (retailer), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Mar 3, 2005Acquired Acquired by Fast Retailing1
  2. Nov 1950Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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