uniqlo

Their brands aren't well known in the U.S. yet, but experts suggest you keep an eye on these seven emerging retailers with hot store concepts that are ripe for expansion. They could soon be headed to a mall near you.

Uniqlo has a simple plan: To revolutionize how people wear clothes. As its next step, the Japanese retailer of utilitarian but sexy fashions with cutting-edge features is making a massive push into the U.S. And if you haven't heard the buzz Uniqlo's generating, you will soon.

Lower than expected earnings numbers from Japanese blue-chip companies dragged the Nikkei lower Thursday, as did the outbreak of violence in Egypt.

Rising applications in the U.S. for unemployment claims sent Asian shares lower today. In Japan the Nikkei 225 Index slid 0.9% and in China the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 1.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up 0.2%.

Even a marketing juggernaut like Uniqlo gets it wrong every once in awhile. The Hiroshima-born discount fashion palace, known by some as "the Japanese H&M," is confusing New York City subway riders, tourists and online visitors with an ad campaign touting its HeatTech line of clothing. In the...

Amid all the chain-store carnage, some smaller merchants are trying to attract shoppers with new concepts, from textbook rentals to made-to-order pants. And many are finding success in a bruising economic environment.

The return of traditional office clothing, inspired by hip-hop artists, hipsters, and Hollywood, is good news for some low-cost retailers.

In Asia today, Japan's Nikkei Index closed at 10, 258 – up 0.2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.3 percent, ending the day at 21,930, and China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.1 percent to 2,977. Japan's worst-performing stock was Japan Airlines Corp. (JALSY), which plunged 11...

If you don't know Uniqlo now, you will by the end of this recession.That's because the Japan-based chain -- which specializes in affordable, structural, fashion-forward basics -- is poised to be the first retailer to truly shatter the down-spending doldrums. Today, the company reported that its...