Of all the people to become Uniqlo’s first global creative director, British fashion designer Clare Waight Keller wasn’t perhaps the obvious choice. Her CV is more haute than high street, including working for Gucci in its Tom Ford heyday and leading the revival of Parisian label Chloé. After leaving her last post as creative director of Givenchy in 2020, she took a two-year pause to reflect on the future of fashion and her own place in the industry. She concluded that there was more to learn by working with a Japanese high-street giant than another European luxury house. After spending time in Tokyo to work on a collaboration with Uniqlo (the now bestselling Uniqlo:C line), she began to imagine a bigger remit with the brand, and her new job announcement followed in late 2024.

“I have been thinking about where fashion will go in the next 10 to 15 years,” says Waight Keller, who is now based between southwest London and Uniqlo’s head offices in Tokyo. “Where I see the most interest and growth is in Asia.” Wrapped in a cosy, grey coat from her Uniqlo:C line, her eyes light up when she speaks about the advances in hospitality, architecture and fabric development that she has discovered during her travels.    

As luxury becomes more mainstream, Waight Keller believes that there are new opportunities for high-street brands to improve on quality and design to reach customers looking for value rather than status. Here, she shares her plans for 2025. — L

Why choose Uniqlo instead of returning to luxury?
I’ve always taken quite surprising moves in my career. Over the past decade or two, many people have said to me, “Oh my God, I didn’t expect to see you there.” But that’s part of what I search for: the surprise, the challenge. As a designer, it’s very easy to do the same type of job under a different umbrella. That might be a great career move but it’s familiar. I’m only on this planet for a short amount of time, so I just want to make it as interesting as possible.

I spent a lot of time in Tokyo working with the team on my collaboration collection. During that time, I was getting involved in a lot of the meetings and discussions, so we started thinking that this could be a bigger opportunity. The brand itself is so well-loved and it is one of the few brands on the high street that’s also known for innovation. That for me was the big draw.

What are the opportunities and challenges of working at a bigger, better-known brand?
One designer I got to know really well when I was living in Paris was the late Karl Lagerfeld. I always admired his chameleon-like approach to working for different brands such as Chanel, Fendi and Chloé. I admired the fact that he morphed every time. He was one of those designers who tried to immerse himself in the storytelling of the brand and to bring his own flavour to it. I’m the same way: I’m not a designer who imposes my look on a brand. With certain designers today, you know what you’re getting when they move and that’s reassuring for a lot of people. But I like immersing myself in the story of the house and trying to thread a new chapter. It’s not my chapter; it’s the company’s chapter. The company will be around much longer than I will, so for me it’s about translating that and making it relevant to the moment.

Why is this company-first design approach so rare?
It’s partly because of the lack of women in our industry. Women have a different approach and a different way of designing; it’s very customer-centric in that sense. I know people don’t think customers are sexy to talk about but ultimately they are the people who buy your product. Just having a model as your only idea of the true vision of your brand? Sorry, but I find that very limiting.

How has your approach changed since you started working on your first collaboration with Uniqlo?
It has changed vastly. I’m suddenly seeing my jacket in a full range of sizes and I want to make it look amazing in every size, so I might add some shape on the upper back or a little more hip volume. Otherwise, it’s lazy design. As a designer, you need to adapt; you have an ability to create and be thoughtful about the product you’re using. It’s the same when someone is designing a chair: they need to think about the different people who will sit on it, about supporting the back or getting the dimensions correct so that the legs aren’t floating around. You have to find solutions to problems and do it beautifully.

What changes should we expect to see on Uniqlo shop floors in 2025?
I oversee everything except for the childrenswear. All the menswear, womenswear, all the socks – everything that you regularly see in a Uniqlo shop is now part of my design remit. The biggest change you’ll see is definitely colour, which is something I’m working on constantly, even on those classic lines we rarely touch. This season, for instance, there’s the new cashmere palette and I selected every one of the 50 shades. Then there’s the new seasonal shapes: new trouser silhouettes; new ultra-light Blocktech jackets; and a new Puffertech coming in. We’re also trying to introduce recycled programmes as much as possible – our biggest issue is actually people not donating enough, if you can believe it. So anyone who has any extra nylons or downs, please bring them to a Uniqlo shop and we’ll make you a new one.

A lot of luxury customers rely on Uniqlo for their basics. Is our definition of luxury changing?
I see people dressing both high and low. A lot of luxury is unaffordable and that’s a challenge for many people who love fashion. There is, of course, the secondhand market but there is a real need for those really well-made, well-priced value pieces such as the Uniqlo Airism T-shirt or the cashmere jumpers. I’ve been buying Uniqlo cashmere for 10 years and it’s a great product. It lasts so long – all you need to do is maybe add a new colour or a slightly different proportion. It’s a new way of looking at brands.

There’s also an interesting shift with the high-street brands trying to raise the bar in terms of their image and the people they collaborate with, including photographers and stylists. There’s less discrepancy in image between high street and luxury. Maybe there’s still some when it comes to quality but it depends on how you put it together. I genuinely look at a lot of the Uniqlo products – like a fully unlined, tailored jacket – and I can’t believe how high the quality is. It’s because of the high standards Uniqlo abides by, the attention to detail and the precision it puts into things. It’s cultural, which is why, as a designer, it’s so amazing to work in Tokyo.

Is Asia now playing a bigger role in setting the global fashion agenda?
It’s interesting to look at what Asia is doing and realise there’s a lot of value in what it can bring to the table. I spent so much time in Western markets and Western companies, and we were always looking to the East but were never part of the East. There has been a blanket approach when it comes to Asia but it’s so vastly different and there are so many exciting developments happening across the continent. The general trope is cheap manufacturing, which isn’t true any more. There’s an understanding that’s really vast in terms of technology and the future; it is more open-minded and experimental because it has a comfort level with development. In Europe, we would probably be considered sleepier in the way that we approach things. Certainly, manufacturing is very slow. In Asia, the emergence of K-pop, K-beauty, the restaurant scene, the way cities are being developed, the architects working over there – it’s extremely dynamic.

What are your predictions for the broader fashion industry in 2025?
Coronavirus obviously created this massive growth spurt that everyone enjoyed tremendously but since then we’ve experienced this feeling of being on the crest of a wave. Sometimes you don’t see when it’s going to crash and fall because you’re on the wave. There needs to be some sort of adjustment and that comes with going back and understanding why people love that brand and why it should exist. These are the classic questions that you ask if you’re in brand marketing: why you’re there, what’s the reason behind what you’re doing and why would people buy it. But you should be able to answer those questions concretely. It’s not enough to just make a new T-shirt. There has been an era in fashion when just putting out a brand name was enough and that has certainly played out really well, but maybe we need to look back at design now and those reasons that are more intrinsic to why you want to buy a product and how it links back to a brand. Yes, there’s always going to be an element of status but, ultimately, people need quality.