TOKYO -- (ACN Newswire) --

TOKYO, July 8, 2015 - (ACN Newswire) - UNIQLO today announces its support of the Special Olympics World Games Los Angeles 2015, to be held this year from July 25 to August 2. Along with US $450,000 (approx. 54 million yen) in financial support, as the official apparel sponsor for Special Olympics Unified Sports(R) Experience events, UNIQLO will donate a total of 7,000 T-shirts and Polo Shirts to be worn by athletes and volunteer organizers.

Dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences, Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. Local UNIQLO offices will also provide the official uniforms and training wear for teams representing Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. In addition, more than 100 employees from UNIQLO's parent company Fast Retailing have volunteered to support the event.

Commenting on today's announcement, Tadashi Yanai, Chairman, President & CEO of Fast Retailing, said, "We are pleased to be able to support this global sports event, which is so important to everyone involved. The Fast Retailing Group is committed to employing people with disabilities, in the belief that we can learn from each other and grow by working together. Through our support of the Special Olympics World Games Los Angeles 2015, we hope to contribute to the realization of a society in which all people, those with disabilities and those without, support each other and grow together."

UNIQLO will conduct a Special Olympics promotional campaign in its stores during the Games. To raise awareness of the event, UNIQLO will put up posters supporting Special Olympics in UNIQLO stores in 12 countries and regions, and staff at UNIQLO's five locations in the host city of Los Angeles will wear T-shirts with the Special Olympics logo.

UNIQLO believes in the ideal of Special Olympics, to foster independence and social participation for persons with intellectual disabilities through sports, and has supported Special Olympics Nippon since 2002. Currently, UNIQLO supports local Special Olympics organizations in 12 countries and regions by providing uniforms, and sending volunteers to help run events.

Japan Team Official Uniforms: http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_1507081.jpg

Unified Sports Experience Uniforms: http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_1507082.jpg

About Special Olympics

Special Olympics is a global movement that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports, every day around the world. It empowers people with intellectual disabilities to become accepted and valued members of their communities, which leads to a more respectful and inclusive society for all. Using sports as the catalyst and programming around health and education, Special Olympics is fighting inactivity, injustice and intolerance. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the Special Olympics movement has grown to more than 4.5 million athletes in 170 countries. With the support of more than 1.3 million coaches and volunteers, Special Olympics delivers 32 Olympic-type sports and more than 81,000 games and competitions throughout the year. Special Olympics is supported by individuals, foundations and partners. At the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games, around 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches from 177 countries and regions will compete in 25 events.

The games are supported by 30,000 volunteer organizers, and watched by 500,000 spectators. Visit Special Olympics at www.specialolympics.org. Engage with us on: Twitter @specialolympics; fb.com/specialolympics; youtube.com/specialolympicshq; instagram.com/specialolympics and specialolympicsblog.wordpress.com.

About Unified Sports Experience

Unified Sports Experiences are non-official exhibition activities in which Special Olympics athletes are paired with internationally renowned sports and entertainment personalities in a series of competitive events. A total of 16 Unified Sports Experience events will be held during the World Summer Games, with the aim of raising awareness of Special Olympics.

About UNIQLO and Fast Retailing

UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., a leading global Japanese retail holding company that designs, manufactures and sells clothing under seven main brands: Comptoir des Cotonniers, GU, Helmut Lang, J Brand, Princesse tam.tam, Theory, and UNIQLO. With global sales of approximately 1.38 trillion yen for the 2014 fiscal year ending August 31, 2014 (US $13.3 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2014 rate of $1 = 103.74 yen), Fast Retailing is one of the world's largest apparel retail companies, and UNIQLO is Japan's leading specialty retailer.

UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stores in some of the world's most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a truly global brand. Today the company has a total of more than 1,600 stores in 16 markets worldwide including Japan, Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, U.K. and the U.S. In addition, Grameen UNIQLO, a social business established in Bangladesh in September 2010, currently operates several Grameen UNIQLO stores in Dhaka. UNIQLO manages an integrated business model under which it designs, manufactures, markets and sells high-quality, casual apparel. The company believes that truly great clothes should be supremely comfortable, feature universal designs, are of high quality and offer a superb fit to everyone who wears them.

With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. For more information about UNIQLO and Fast Retailing, please visit www.uniqlo.com and www.fastretailing.com.

For media queries, please contact:
Fast Retailing
Corporate PR Department
Aldo Liguori / Ai Kanda
+81 (0)3 6865 0960

Source: Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.

Copyright 2015 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.