Supporting Communities Nationwide on Giving Tuesday and Throughout the Holiday Season

TORONTO, Dec. 2, 2024 /CNW/ - UNIQLO, the global apparel retailer, announces support for Canadian communities as part of "The Heart of LifeWear," a new global initiative to support people in need through the donation of one million HEATTECH clothing items worldwide. In Canada, UNIQLO will donate 30,000 HEATTECH units to provide warmth to individuals experiencing homelessness, asylum seekers, refugees, and others in need.

Jean Shein, Global Director of Sustainability at UNIQLO, stated, "At UNIQLO, we believe in the power of clothing to make a positive impact on people's lives. Through 'The Heart of LifeWear' initiative, we are committed to supporting communities across Canada by providing warmth and comfort to those who need it most during this holiday season."

In the spirit of giving, customers are invited to contribute to this campaign by donating at checkout in all UNIQLO stores in Canada to support homeless youth through Covenant House. They can also donate their gently used UNIQLO clothing through the RE.UNIQLO program, which repurposes these items to further aid communities.

Partnering Organizations in Canada:
Covenant House
Since 1972, Covenant House has offered housing and support to youth overcoming homelessness, human trafficking, and exploitation. With a wide range of services, Covenant House remains Canada's largest agency supporting young people during the colder months and throughout the year. By providing HEATTECH products, UNIQLO aims to meet the basic needs of Covenant House youth, empowering them with warmth and dignity this winter. For more information about their two sites in Canada, visit www.covenanthousetoronto.ca | www.covenanthousebc.org/

New Circles (Ontario)
New Circles Community Services is a not-for-profit, grass-roots agency that builds strong and caring communities by providing clothing and skills training programs to equity-deserving individuals with limited income. With the colder temperatures, Ontario has an extremely high demand for warm clothing. HEATTECH will allow the New Circles community to stay warm and comfortable during the winter months. For more information, visit  www.newcircles.ca/ 

Edmonton Emergency Response and Newcomers Services
Edmonton Emergency Response and Newcomers Services (EERNS) is a nonprofit charitable organization that helps fire victims, disaster victims, family violence victims, newcomers, and refugees by providing essential needs, such as household necessities, clothing, furniture, and personal hygiene items. To better prepare newcomers for harsh Alberta winters, HEATTECH will serve as the base layer needed to stay warm and comfortable when temperatures dip. For more information, visit www.eerns.ca 

The Open Door Montreal
With a commitment to cultural safety and harm reduction, The Open Door Montreal is a low-barrier emergency shelter that operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.  It offers a variety of programs and services for individuals experiencing homelessness, with priority given to unhoused Indigenous communities of Milton Parc. The Open Door largely relies on community clothing donations; having HEATTECH products will ensure participants have adequate protection from frigid temperatures. For more information, visit www.opendoortoday.org 

For more details on UNIQLO's Heart of LifeWear initiative, visit uniqlo.com.

About RE.UNIQLO
UNIQLO is committed to taking responsibility of the clothing it manufactures and sells throughout the lifecycles and has been collecting pre-worn UNIQLO items from customers to be reused or recycled over 20 years. RE.UNIQLO is an initiative that gives the pre-worn clothing new life and new value, providing customers with various solutions for them to appreciate and use clothing for a long time.

About UNIQLO LifeWear
Apparel that comes from the Japanese values of simplicity, quality and longevity. Designed to be of the time and for the time, LifeWear is made with such modern elegance that it becomes the building blocks of each individual's style. A perfect shirt that is always being made more perfect. The simplest design hiding the most thoughtful and modern details. The best in fit and fabric made to be affordable and accessible to all. LifeWear is clothing that is constantly being innovated, bringing more warmth, more lightness, better design, and better comfort to people's lives.

About UNIQLO and Fast Retailing
UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing Group, the others being GU, Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand and Helmut Lang. With global sales of approximately 3.1 trillion yen for the 2024 fiscal year ending August 31, 2024 (US $21.42 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2024 rate of $1 = 144.9 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 global brand. Today the company has a total of more than 2,500 UNIQLO stores across the world, including Japan, Asia, Europe and North America. The total number of stores across Fast Retailing's brands is now over 3,600.

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.

SOURCE UNIQLO