How Ethical Is Uniqlo?
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Uniqlo presents a timeless aesthetic but how do its ethics hold up? How ethical is Uniqlo? Here’s why the brand is rated our middling score of “It’s a Start” overall.
This article is based on the Uniqlo rating published in June 2026 and may not reflect claims the brand has made since then. Our ratings analysts are constantly rerating the thousands of brands you can check on our directory.
Is giant Uniqlo doing enough?
Uniqlo has an easy-to-wear casual look, and when it gets cold those cardigans can be pretty compelling. Its clothes may be more enduring than the usual “new styles every week” shtick of other big brands, but is there more to the story? We’re here to answer the question: how ethical is Uniqlo?
Uniqlo is now a multinational retailer, having first opened its doors in Hiroshima in 1984. It emphasises low-cost, everyday fashion that doesn’t go out of style, which has proved to be a winning formula as it now boasts around 2,500 stores worldwide.
Uniqlo’s founder, Tadashi Yanai, is one of Japan’s richest people and according to Forbes has aspirations to make Uniqlo the world’s largest retailer, which would mean surpassing both H&M and Zara and likely increasing the amount it produces. With that in mind, we have to question: is it possible to be a sustainable brand on such a huge scale? The brand is already huge and sells thousands of styles online and in store.
Let’s dig into what we found out about Uniqlo’s performance on key sustainability issues across people, the planet, and animals, when our analysts looked at the brand’s public disclosures and credible third-party reporting. Is Uniqlo sustainable?
Environmental impact
Uniqlo scores “It’s a Start” for the environment as it is taking some steps in the right direction. For example, it has a repair and reuse program in place and it offers clothing recycling to consumers to help address end-of-life textile waste. And when it comes to circularity, it’s good to note that the brand designs long-lasting and timeless items; however, it still produces a huge volume of clothes and engages in frequent discounting to push shoppers to buy more, which are key aspects of the unsustainable fast fashion business model.
Uniqlo uses some lower-impact materials but our analysts couldn’t find an aggregate breakdown to explain what percentage of its total material mix they make up. That’s important because it shows how much action a brand is taking to replace conventional materials in its collections. And one of Uniqlo’s advertisements was recently banned in the UK after regulators found its claim that a fleece was made from “recycled materials” was too vague. These issues show that the brand needs to take more steps to improve its disclosures around materials and help consumers understand the full story behind the things they’re buying.
Uniqlo has set a science-based climate change target to reduce emissions in its supply chain, and stated it was aiming to eliminate hazardous chemicals after 2025, but at the time of this rating review in June 2026, our analysts couldn’t find evidence of whether the brand was on track to meet these targets.
Labour conditions
Uniqlo’s labour rating is “Good”. Its social auditing program covering its entire final production stage is accredited by Fair Labor Association (FLA), and its Code of Conduct covers the ILO Four Fundamental Freedoms principles. Uniqlo also has initiatives in place to help provide financial security for its suppliers, which helps to ensure workers are promised better conditions. On top of that, it provides leadership programs for women to help empower their upward mobility in the workforce. These positive actions are the kind we expect to see financially powerful global brands engaging in, so it’s good to see Uniqlo taking the lead here.
But there’s one area Uniqlo falls short in: living wages. The brand states it has a project to improve wages for workers, but there’s no evidence it ensures a living wage is paid at any stage of its supply chain. Uniqlo is showing some good steps on the labour front, and taking responsibility for the wellbeing and livelihood of those who make its clothes ought to be its next priority.
Animal welfare
Uniqlo’s animal rating is “It’s a Start”. The brand doesn’t use fur, alpaca, shearling, and mohair, which is positive. It uses leather and doesn’t appear to have made any commitments to certifying leather production. Certifications can help to ensure better animal welfare, traceability, and guard against harmful chemical usage in the supply chain, so it’s an important step for Uniqlo to take next.
Cashmere and down form part of Uniqlo’s core product offering in the winter season with sweaters, scarves, and lightweight puffer jackets, which means it is likely to use a high amount of these materials. The brand also uses wool and, crucially, it states that it sources wool from non-mulesed sheep, but there’s no evidence of how it ensures this. Lastly, the brand’s formal animal welfare policy is not aligned with the Five Freedoms.
Taking all this into account, we can see that while Uniqlo is taking some good steps such as avoiding mulesed wool and cruel materials like fur, there is still room for improvement in the form of committing to eliminating animal materials from its products or at least switching to certified and recycled alternatives as a first step, and strengthening its animal welfare policy.
Overall rating: ‘It’s a Start’
Uniqlo rates “It’s a Start” overall for its performance on key sustainability issues, based on an assessment of the publicly available evidence by our ratings team here at Good On You.
While Uniqlo has set some decent environmental policies and some good labour initiatives in place, there is no evidence it’s providing wages that allow workers to live dignified lives, and it needs to implement stronger commitments when it comes to animal-derived materials.
At the end of the day, Uniqlo is still very much a part of the unsustainable fast fashion industry. Its constant production and discounting of new items has a huge environmental impact as an increasing amount of cheap clothing ends up in landfill after a few wears. So, while those cheaper price tags may be tempting, they can also be an indication that the brand isn’t taking enough accountability for its actions behind the scenes.
Note that Good On You ratings consider hundreds of issues, and it is not possible to list every relevant issue in a summary of the brand’s performance. For more information, see our How We Rate page and our FAQs.
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