brinkeguthrie
Hall of Fame
Because Uniqlo doesn't care enough to be bothered.
Uniqlo or has ON won the battle?
- Thread starter Robert F
- Start date
augustobt
Legend
Come on, guys. 30mil a year. How about that for a retirement plan?
Uniqlo fumbled with Rog fans. If for you north-americans and europeans it's/was hard to get his stuff, you don't even want to know how it is in South America. Sky-high prices as you can only get from people who imported it directly. Talking about 300% the tag prices here.
I used to buy his nike shirts at a very good discount.
Uniqlo fumbled with Rog fans. If for you north-americans and europeans it's/was hard to get his stuff, you don't even want to know how it is in South America. Sky-high prices as you can only get from people who imported it directly. Talking about 300% the tag prices here.
I used to buy his nike shirts at a very good discount.
brinkeguthrie
Hall of Fame
An On|RF line would be so minimalistic. So Swiss. So....GOATish.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
Uniqlo hasn’t even tried to establish itself as an athletic brand and with clothes its brand is firmly positioned in the low price niche. On has done a great job in building up its brand identity as a high performance oriented athletic brand in a very short period especially in the high price niche. It would seem like Federer is much more suited to be a brand ambassador for On than for Uniqlo.
Uniqlo still makes great quality but very limited releases for tennis, 2-3 times yearly under name of Nishikori. Usually released in around Jan, May, Aug Great collections, incredible quality, and there sold out usually within a week. I stock their releases and ad bought all the collections for my son recent 3 years. They are alive and active, but limited in production probably to keep interest.
Another brand I purchase for my son is ON, again sold out immediately after releases. Must say they both great and innovative fabrics, but Uniqlo is better in quality I think, On is very thin and synthetic slippery.
Another brand I purchase for my son is ON, again sold out immediately after releases. Must say they both great and innovative fabrics, but Uniqlo is better in quality I think, On is very thin and synthetic slippery.
tenniserxc
Rookie
I was in multiple Uniqlo stores in Asia this past April, and didn't even see any tennis related marketing/clothing. There was athletic clothing, airism line I think it was called, but basically like Nike's generic Dry Fit shirts.
PistolPete23
Hall of Fame
I have never seen Roger’s photo in any Uniqlo stores in California, and there’s a large tennis-playing population here. Heck, no Roger gear either; closest thing was a lame “Go Roger” t-shirt. Why pay the most marketable player in history and not use him at all for marketing? They done messed up, maybe even more than Nike did letting Roger go.
emkayenaim
Rookie
It's Dry-Ex.
lidoazndiabloboi
Hall of Fame
Their "tennis clothing" is basically their Dry Ex clothes with a $20 logo added.
gino
Legend
agreed, everything other than the FO21 polos Ive bought was super cheap feeling and thin
for reference ive owned: 18USO, 19 FO, 19W, 21FO, 21W
lidoazndiabloboi
Hall of Fame
There is the Fed JWAnderson line that was release not too long ago. It seemed like they sold out pretty well, all that was left at my local store was XS size. In my past life, I wanted all the Uniqlo shirts and shorts with the logos, but they start peeling after like 3 washes. Its gotten to the point where I don't even bother touching them for the fear of losing the logo. So I do like the current line, where its a more classical look, without a logo. Their 5" dry ex shorts are very nice, if only they can make it slightly more narrow.
lidoazndiabloboi
Hall of Fame
I have shirts/polos going back to 2013,14 Djokovic and Nishikori days. But unfortunately I never wear them. Dont want to take a chance for the logo to peel.
For $20 more, Uniqlo should definitely sew the logo like they do for Fed. Or make it a patch like the Lacoste logo. When you go into the Uniqlo store, and grab one of their in store bags, what do you know, the uniqlo logo is a sewn patch. I almost wanted to just take the bag with me, so I can cut off the logo patch.
gino
Legend
lol the patch idea is hilarious. uniqlo and these general consumer apparel companies seem content on just sponsoring people without any cohesive branding. seems really stupid but hey, what do we know? were only their target market lol
Uniqlo does not sell tennis collection in retail stores. It goes online only and sold out in a week or so.
PistolPete23
Hall of Fame
Surely it wouldn't hurt them to put up some photos of Roger modeling the casual apparel. I've never seen it.
lidoazndiabloboi
Hall of Fame
I do see posters up in my store. More recently, they have Fed advertising their suits. I would have bought some, except I dont look half as good in them as Fed.
teachingprotx
Legend
On will be big .
Well if you want a mass production - Nike and New Balance are always around a corner. There were 3 Uniqlo Nishikori releases this year, all of them great (except last one), I was able to get all them since I follow regularly. There was whole Federer collection release in Jan 2024, very unimpressive and was sitting on their website for couple of months. Even if you go on Uniqlo Nishikori gonna bring latest release (sold out though). Limited infrequent releases keep their class
Yup but their staff
Why need exposure when they then put apparel on the website and its like 10 items per size
mtommer
Hall of Fame
I've posted about this subject before. Why are you assuming they are using him to market to the masses, so to speak? To begin with, 300M may be relative drop in the bucket for them. More likely, he is being used for marketing, just not marketing their consumer base. It wouldn't surprise me if he is there to woo potential investors and what we see is little more than an afterthought.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
I think they signed Federer to please the founder who is a big Fed fan. It doesn’t sound like they had any business model around promoting him. Even in the Japan market, I visited a couple of stores and there was no Federer promotional material or tennis merchandise.
arthurli22
Semi-Pro
Exactly, but not 3 washes, just one wash is enough indeed. The recent Nishikori Shorts of FO 2024 had their Uniqlo logos peeled off just after one wash. I have both colorways and they have the same problem. The material itself is not bad but the logos were a major let down
lidoazndiabloboi
Hall of Fame
I’m sorry to hear that. What’s the point in paying extra for logos if it falls right off
arthurli22
Semi-Pro
No point indeed if the design are exactly the same. But most Nishikori stuff have better and unique design, with the exception of those under the collection of USO 2024.
volleynets
Hall of Fame
They didn’t really put any effort into the market, barely and rarely releasing any tennis. It seemed like all they try to do is use the tennis players image to get people buying their regular daily wear stuff. I think uniqlo is huge lost potential. They could have done way more
sabershirou
New User
At the very least, I feel like Uniqlo should stock the RF caps more regularly. Mine bought a few years back is wearing out, and while Fed has had clothing releases in collaboration with JW Anderson (I really liked their latest line), there aren't any RF caps sold alongside.
tenniserxc
Rookie
Agree, the hats were like the only thing that I could justify buying on a budget…
Marshredder
Semi-Pro
The UniQlo partnership was such a massive wasted opportunity as others have said. The stuff they release is far between and always very basic. I don't understand why they don't do releases of the collared t-shirts that Fed wears etc, really nice, classy pieces but never released.
I miss all the Nike RF ranges. So many really amazing designs.
I miss all the Nike RF ranges. So many really amazing designs.
Alexh22
Professional
After they signed Federer they did absolutely nothing with it. Even after the RF logo was returned they still did nothing. $300M well spent.
The things Uniqlo put out for Federer have bean subpar in both design and quality. And they are sold out in the stores I visited or online. I did buy a cap a couple years ago. but it was poorly made at such a high price tag.
The things Uniqlo put out for Federer have bean subpar in both design and quality. And they are sold out in the stores I visited or online. I did buy a cap a couple years ago. but it was poorly made at such a high price tag.
Al Czervik
Hall of Fame
The only item I was ever able to buy were the hats. At least with Novak, the shirts and jackets were somewhat readily available. They basically torched $300 million.
sportsfan1
Legend
Uniqlo paid federer for essentially doing nothing. He took it and didn't complain lol.
I always thought he was signed to build their brand image and bring in what customers they can to their own fashion lines. They manage a tight and efficient supply chain, and not really a fashion forward company. Not surprised they didn't do more w/ RF, but wish they did. I don't think they are too concerned w/ customers that only buy RF as much as they are w/ the ones that stick around and buy their other apparel.
lidoazndiabloboi
Hall of Fame
tenniserxc
Rookie
Tbh as much as I want to like Uniqlo, I can’t see them as a sports brand at the consumer level (which I guess is what sponsorships are supposed to do). From my limited experience, their clothes are comfortable, for sure, but the general vibe I get from their clothes is casual and pajama-esque, which is great for certain situations, but feel like there is a big gap in perception between Uniqlo and any other major athletic clothing brand
tenniserxc
Rookie
On a side note, what sock brand is Fed wearing? I never noticed this until now
uniqlo... (the two red squares)
Dae18
Hall of Fame
They were never a sport brand to begin with. They are just a simple clothing brand with minimalistic style like Gap or H&M for example. Like the two examples, they do offer athleisure/athletic wear for the everyday consumer, now do they expect most of the profit come from that? No.
Now if we are talking about why Federer choose to be with Uniqlo besides the money investment part, it’s merely cause he wants to have a brand outside of tennis. I remember Nike tried doing that when they made a RF/Lab collection which did okay but hard to profit a lot if you make a few pieces at a time (i.e Osaka) Idk what the sale numbers are in terms of him marketing/endorsing wearing button downs or jeans but I’m sure it’s not as a big factor as you’d think
Overall, Fed just wanted to be with a brand that see his vision long term and not just for a specific reason (i.e tennis only)
I mean I like that a decent quality tennis/athletic clothing is available for $20-$40 AUD a shirt/pair of shorts instead of $100+ that is simple and can be worn casually as well
TennisXpert@2023
Semi-Pro
Federer and Uniqlo are getting exactly what both want from the deal. It is not superficial stuff like selling a bunch of merchandise. There partnership is behind the scenes that this forum can’t see because you are not mature enough to see it. Also Federer may invested in ON along with brand ambassador but he is not an owne.
ichaseballs
Hall of Fame
Uniqlo will likely never be able to achieve what ON is in shoe game.
much easier for ON who is killing it in shoes, to extend their brand into clothing.
Uniqlo known for value and no logo is going to limit it's potential for high-end sports clothing or similar.
ON is the clear winner and looks set to make that clear over the future decades.
much easier for ON who is killing it in shoes, to extend their brand into clothing.
Uniqlo known for value and no logo is going to limit it's potential for high-end sports clothing or similar.
ON is the clear winner and looks set to make that clear over the future decades.
jmacdaununder2
Legend
Fed’s marketed image is, or was, way too classy for Uniqlo.
jmacdaununder2
Legend
Overall Fed just couldn’t resist the money; not judging - anyone in their right mind would presumably do likewise - sad result for those that lived through his Nike era nonetheless.
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