[Rumor] 优衣库的Uniqlo U产品线今年要停产了

https://puck.news/lemaires-solid-bet-on-itself/ TLDR: Uniqlo U的head designer Lemaire 很可能会停止合作,今年可能是最后一年的Uniqlo U. 我个人觉得Uniqlo U的styling挺不错的, 我最喜欢的tshirt(https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/products/E465185-000/00?colorDisplayCode=69&sizeDisplayCode=004/https://www.uniqlo.com/customize/tairyo/products/E465185-000/69) 就是Uniqlo U的. 希望合作终止后Uniqlo会继续卖这个shirt. THE FRESH PRINCE OF LEMAIRE It’s been a decade since Christophe Lemaire linked up with Uniqlo for a partnership that’s both steadfast and mutually beneficial. But while insiders now expect a conclusion of the collaboration, Lemaire’s namesake line is on the shortlist of independent luxury brands that every strategic buyer has been quietly watching. Last week’s Lemaire show in Paris, staged in an unfinished concert hall in the Opéra Bastille, was typical for designers Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran . With Lemaire, the shtick is that there is no shtick, just solutions for dressing for real life. Every season, the clothes are adjusted but never totally erased. You could call it iterative fashion. Behind the scenes, though, Lemaire has become a very different business. The company is transformed, projected to hit €160 million in annual sales in 2026, up from €10 million pre-pandemic, according to a source familiar with the figures. This trajectory was enabled through increased distribution in Asia, where the brand’s distinctive croissant bag is a certified hit and where Lemaire and Tran have opened stand-alone stores in Tokyo and Seoul. That expansion was also partly expedited by Fast Retailing, the group that owns Uniqlo, where Lemaire himself began working in 2016 as the artistic director of its Paris R&D lab—a locus essentially built for him. With his appointment, Lemaire and Tran began designing a seasonal capsule collection called Uniqlo U. The project, which took material and silhouette inspiration from his namesake collection, was viewed as a skunk works for the broader Uniqlo offering. If something worked within U, it would often be reproduced for the main line. In the early days, Uniqlo U was a hit, and the partnership was so fruitful that the family office of Fast Retailing founder and C.E.O. Tadashi Yanai took a minority stake in Lemaire two years later. Now, though, I’ve learned that Fast Retailing’s ownership position in the business has been reduced, and there are plans for Lemaire and Tran to exit Uniqlo U, with their Fall/Winter 2026 collection being the last. There has been talk of continuing Uniqlo U without the designers, but Yanai nixed the idea, I’m told. Of course, there is a chance that things could change in the coming months: Yanai likes to hold on to talent, and Lemaire and Tran are core components of the Uniqlo architecture. A rep for Lemaire had no comment. A rep for Uniqlo did not comment. If the separation from Uniqlo does take place, it will come as Lemaire is operationalizing the effects of its rapid growth. Laetitia Mergui , an Asia expert who oversaw the expansion in the region, stepped down as C.E.O. earlier this year. After an extensive search, she has effectively been replaced by Clarisse Godbillon , a longtime Lemaire employee who spent a couple of years in between as the C.O.O. of Jacquemus. Godbillon, who joins September 1, will be named managing director, responsible for “implementation of Lemaire’s vision across all activities while maintaining the brand’s consistency, high standards, and long-term growth,” a rep confirmed to me. “She has an in-depth understanding of every aspect of the company’s operations and identity. Her mission will be to lead the brand’s development and oversee its strategic and operational management, working closely with Christophe and Sarah-Linh.” At this stage of growth, there is a tension between maintaining the designers’ integrity with each collection and the ambition to scale. And the arrangement also reflects a new reality for Lemaire, himself. Even before Tran entered the picture, the 61-year-old Lemaire always maintained side hustles in order to fund his nearly four-decade-old business—first at Lacoste from 2000 to 2010, then at Hermès from 2010 to 2014. Fast Retailing is known for paying its ancillary talent well into the seven figures, but Lemaire and Tran may not need that additional income now that the business is faring so well. On the other hand, now they’re going all in and betting on themselves.