Tadashi Yanai, the founder and president of Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing, has indicated he plans to retire.

He is seeking a successor in the next two years.

Under Yanai’s supervision, the original Uniqlo in western Japan was transformed from a small shop into the world’s third-largest apparel brand in one generation.

With a Bachelor’s degree in economics and political science, Yanai started in business in 1971 selling kitchenware and men’s clothing at a supermarket.

A year later he quit to join his father’s roadside tailor shop, and launched Uniqlo in Hiroshima in 1984. He changed the name of his father’s company, Ogori Shoji, to Fast Retailing in 1991.

The 68-year-old has a net worth estimated at US$15.1 billion.

This story first appeared on sister site Inside Retail Asia.

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