“We chose San Francisco because it’s a hotbed of global technological innovation,” said Yasunobu Kyogoku, Uniqlo U.S. chief operating officer.

With its illuminated rainbow staircase, glass-sheathed roof-to-basement skylight, 91 rotating mannequins and 77 LCD screens, the new store is a symphony of tech-fueled slick marketing.

Its most cutting-edge touch: The “Magic Mirror,” a virtual dressing room on a 60-inch digital monitor. A customer tries on, say, the Ultra Light Down Jacket (“It weighs less than an egg,” Kyogoku said) in hot pink. Select other colors on a touch screen and an instant video feed shows the customer wearing the item in purple or green or tan.

“You can share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter,” Kyogoku said.

Standing amid the stacks of brightly hued cashmere, fleece and denim, he thrust his hand into the sleeve of a black-and-white polka-dot shirt made from proprietary Heattech heat-retaining synthetic fabric.

“You begin to feel it getting warm after just a few moments,” he said. “We sold 130 million Heattech pieces last year.”

That kind of volume has boosted Uniqlo – a mash-up of “Unique Clothing Co.” – to the No. 4 specialty clothing spot worldwide, after Zara, HM and Gap.

With 1,132 stores in 13 countries, its annual revenue is $10.6 billion.

But parent company Fast Retailing sees that as just a way station on the road to the top spot. It aspires to $50 billion in global sales by 2020, a fifth of it from North America.

CEO Tadashi Yanai, 63 – the richest man in Japan, with a net worth pegged by Forbes at $10 billion – grew the company from a sleepy clothing chain started by his father.

Dressed in a sober black suit and tie, he readily unbuttoned his dress shirt during an interview in his Four Seasons hotel room to show that he sported Uniqlo undergarments made from an engineered fabric called Silky Dry – the spring/summer version of Heattech.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m wearing underwear,” he said. “These pieces are very comfortable.”

Personal choice

He’s planting his West Coast flag in San Francisco for a personal reason, he said.

“Forty-five years ago, when I was 18, I came to San Francisco by boat and took two weeks to get here,” he said. “I had a great impression. I think San Francisco is the welcoming gate for people from Asia.”

Next up: Los Angeles and Seattle, he said, then Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta.

Achieving world domination in apparel would involve leapfrogging Gap, the San Francisco retailer to which Uniqlo is often compared.

It’s no accident that Uniqlo’s 111 Powell St. store is within shouting distance of the Gap’s hometown flagship store, as well as HM and Forever 21.

“We expect to be the largest selling store on the street,” Kyogoku said. But, he added, “It’s synergistic to have a critical mass of global brands here.”

Yanai said he has great respect for Gap. Mickey Drexler, formerly Gap CEO and now J. Crew CEO, is among his business heroes, along with Steve Jobs, Sam Walton and Les Wexner, CEO of Limited Brands.

“We compete with other retailers for customers every day,” Gap spokeswoman Edie Kissko said, noting that Gap has been in Japan for 15 years and its value brand Old Navy opened in Tokyo this summer. “No competitor is more special or more challenging than another. We welcome Uniqlo to San Francisco.”

Uniqlo is already ubiquitous in Japan – where some disparage it as “unibore” – so growth must come internationally.

Uniqlo has an aggressive plan to open 200 to 300 stores worldwide every year; 20 to 30 of them in the United States. Right now, besides the Powell Street location, it has three New York City stores and just opened a mega-store in a New Jersey mall.

Kyogoku is already scouting other Bay Area real estate and expects several more local stores in the near future.

Where? “It’s my secret,” he said.

Early misstep

The company stumbled in its first U.S. foray, with three small stores in New Jersey malls that closed in 2006, a year after they opened.

“I learned that people don’t buy anything from unknown stores,” Yanai said.

This time around, it’s focusing first on high-traffic urban locations, and paying big bucks for splashy marketing.

“They have to build consumer awareness,” said Dale Achabal, executive director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University. “They get a lot more visibility by opening larger stores in major metropolitan areas.”

E-commerce is also on the agenda, with a shopping website coming this autumn – years after most competitors went online.

Uniqlo’s “Japanese DNA” surfaces in its ultra-deferential customer service – many store managers are trained in Japan – and also in its relative minimalism.

“They pride themselves on not being about breadth of selection, but depth,” said Candace Corlett, president of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York consulting firm. “They create a few items, do them in brilliant colors and sell them at very tempting prices.”

But the pared-down selection could deter repeat customers, she said.

Still, she ticks off strong selling points: well-structured garments that wash well, everyday basics “with a dash of whimsy,” affordable pieces that don’t feel cheap.

Cynthia Cohen, president of New York retail consultancy Strategic Mindshare, said she’s a fan, although Uniqlo is not known for the trendiest items.

“You can’t walk in there for the most current thing to wear to a club on Saturday night,” she said. “You might get your tights or leggings there, but you’d buy your hot, hot, hot fast fashion somewhere else.”

But overall she finds the lineup compelling.

“They offer quintessential fashion basics,” she said. “They cross all lifestyles and ages. They know how to generate a lot of energy and buzz.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Uniqlo-opens-S-F-store-3919489.php