The World's 50 Greatest Leaders

Rank
31
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Tadashi Yanai

WGL05.19-Tadashi Yanai
Tadashi Yanai, chairman and chief executive officer of Fast Retailing Co., speaks at the Panasonic Cross-Value Innovation Forum 2018 in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. Panasonic Corp.'s 100th anniversary forum will continue until November 3. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAkio Kon—Bloomberg via Getty Images
  • Title
    CEO/Founder
  • Affiliation
    Fast Retailing

It’s easy to mistake Fast Retailing’s Uniqlo unit for “fast fashion”: Its clothes, after all, are cheap and ubiquitous. But the trendy, disposable nature of fast fashion is the opposite of what Yanai aims for. Uniqlo’s warehouse-style shops are stocked with durable, practical clothes that work in any season, an approach that has positioned it as a leader in sustainable fashion.