Fast Retailing : Message from Fast Retailing Chairman, President & CEO Tadashi Yanai Regarding COVID-19

Last Updated: 2020.04.06

FAST RETAILING CO., LTD.
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Dear Fast Retailing Customers, Business Partners, and Employees,

COVID-19 is causing devastation around the world, and firstly, to those who are suffering from infection and to those who have lost loved ones, I would like to offer my deepest sympathies. I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to everyone throughout the world who is working to contain the virus and providing medical treatment.

The health and safety of our customers, business partners and employees are of the utmost importance in confronting this global threat, and I sincerely ask that you all take care of yourselves and remain safe.

Fast Retailing has approximately 3,500 stores across 26 markets worldwide, including in Japan, Asia, Europe and North America. Due to the impact of COVID-19, stores have been temporarily closed in markets where the virus is spreading, and production and distribution has also been affected. It is clear to me that this is not only a terrible ordeal for us as a company, but for all humankind.

However, with the considerable support of business partners, we are managing to provide our products and reduce the impact on customers as much as possible. Additionally, by decentralizing our office functions across markets worldwide and facilitating an environment where employees can easily work from home, we remain able to carry out duties without coming to a halt.

We have managed to regain our usual composure, even if just a little, thanks to the cooperation of business partners and our approximately 140,000 employees around the world, as well as customers who continue to engage with us during this incomparably difficult time. I would like to once again thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I believe with you we can overcome this trial together.

These recent events have highlighted just how interconnected the world is today, and how we must be strong and come together as one. While the world has been divided by the continuing spread of the virus, we cannot let the connections we have established with one another be severed. This is something that I cannot emphasize enough.

When we look back on this time, I believe it will have been a point that Fast Retailing became an even stronger company than before, and one more appreciated by society. I think this period of global hardship will continue for now, but when it comes to an end, a bright future surely awaits.

Everyone, please put your health first and continue to have hope for the future.

Tadashi Yanai
Chairman, President & CEO
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.

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