From Givenchy to Tokyo: Uniqlo’s creative director Waight Keller on her move from the luxury to the mass market

In a keynote session at the World Retail Congress in Berlin, Clare Waight Keller, creative director of Uniqlo, outlined how the Japanese retail giant is balancing rapid global expansion with a rigorous, technology-driven approach to product development. Waight Keller, who previously held creative leadership roles at Givenchy, Chloé, and Pringle of Scotland, emphasised that her move to the mass-market sector was driven by an admiration for the ‘elegant, simple, precise and focused’ philosophy of Japanese design.