uniqlo goes to sf

Uniqlo is opening in San Francisco on October 5th! Hurrah! It's such a great place to shop for basics, and before I moved to Japan, the only Uniqlo I've ever stepped in was in New York. My impression then was that it was like Gap with similar pricing, but after having lived in Japan for a while now, I've realized how much it gets marked up outside of Japan. I was reading a U.S. fashion magazine, and a cardigan that I got from Uniqlo was featured. I had paid  ¥1250 for it, or roughly $16, but it was selling in the U.S. for $30! That's pretty much two times the price. They're also forever running special deals; I bought another of the same cardigan maybe a week later for  ¥790!

I've also found that in Japan, people see Uniqlo as a really accessible, inexpensive store. Even out in rural Japan, there will be Uniqlo stores littered throughout the rice fields (I kid, but that's kind of what it feels like). So it makes me giggle a little when I hear about the hype around Uniqlo in the States. Don't get me wrong, I love Uniqlo! But...

I was more excited to find out about Uniqlo's sister store, G.U. When you pronounce G.U., in Japanese it becomes ji-yu, which means free. The concept is that you're free from paying high prices for fashion. It's cheaper (hard to believe!) and trendier than Uniqlo. They have a huge store in Ginza, (Japan's premium shopping area) and I stopped by there recently to pick up some skinny jeans.

I got a mustard pair, a black, and a dark wash denim. They were so affordable at ¥990, I couldn't resist! The black and dark wash pairs fit really well; I can't wait to wear them!