TOKYO: Uniqlo may raise prices for some clothing items for autumn and winter this year and spring and summer next year, Tadashi Yanai, chief of its parent, Fast Retailing Co., indicated Thursday.

It is “impossible to maintain the current prices” if materials costs rise 50 pct, the Fast Retailing chairman, president and CEO told a news conference.

“Given the current economic situation in Japan, we can’t raise prices easily,” he stressed, noting that Uniqlo has so far raised prices for only a handful of items as consumers are price-conscious.

But he added that Uniqlo cannot grow without generating profits.

Fast Retailing said that its consolidated net profit jumped 38.7 pct in the fiscal first half ended in February from a year before to 146,844 million yen, a record high for the six-month period.

Sales were brisk in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia but sluggish in Japan.

JIJI Press