Fast Retailing taps former Marni Creative Director to refresh Uniqlo

Uniqlo's parent company, Fast Retailing, is sharpening its fashion credentials. The Japanese retail group has appointed Francesco Risso as Creative Director of GU while confirming he will also design a new collaboration line for Uniqlo, set to launch in 2026.

While GU continues to build momentum across Asia and the US, Uniqlo remains Fast Retailing’s global-facing brand. Risso’s return to Uniqlo follows the brand’s successful 2022 collaboration with Marni (where he was Creative Director until June 2025), and places him alongside a roster of designers who have helped define the brand's fashion credibility - including JW Anderson, whose long-running partnership has become a permanent fixture in the brand’s calendar.

Italian-born Risso spent a decade at Prada before leading Marni from 2016 to 2025, where he built a distinctive creative language rooted in art, music and cultural storytelling. Translating that sensibility across two very different mass-market brands suggests Fast Retailing is looking to inject stronger narrative and design authority into its core offer, without compromising scale.

The dual role reflects a broader shift within the group: GU becomes the experimental engine, while Uniqlo acts as the global conduit for fashion-forward collaborations.

Further details on both the GU debut collection, scheduled for Autumn/Winter 2026, and the new Uniqlo collaboration will be announced later this year. But the strategy is already clear: Fast Retailing is using design talent not as decoration, but as a lever for global relevance.