The company was founded as Men's Shop Ogori Shoji in 1949, and formally incorporated as Ogōri Shōji Co., Ltd. in 1963 by Hitoshi Yanai. In 1984, the company, which ran a menswear store in
Ube, Yamaguchi, opened a new casual-wear store named Unique Clothing Warehouse in
Hiroshima City; this was the forebear of
Uniqlo. In February 1999, it was listed on the first section (large companies) of the
Tokyo Stock Exchange. It acquired the rest of the company in 2009. In 2007, it unsuccessfully offered a bid of for
Barneys New York department store to the
Jones Apparel Group. In 2012, the company purchased an 80% stake of premium denim company
J Brand for , plus in advisory legal fees. == Senior leadership ==