Domestic garment manufacturers will formally ask the government to impose an import curb on inexpensive clothing that is fueling the rapid growth of the wildly popular Uniqlo chain, industry officials said Monday.

The request could be made later this month.

"Unless Japan holds those imports under control, Japanese garment manufacturers will be wiped out," warned Akihiro Mochizuki, president of the Japan Spinners Association.

Imports of cheap clothing have surged in recent years and Fast Retailing, which operates the Uniqlo chain, has arranged for Chinese factories to make 90 percent of its apparel.

Its plans to sell 12 million knitted fleece sweaters this winter have drawn flak from hard-pressed small and midsize competitors.

But in a sign of Japan's changing economic landscape, the retailer and consumer groups are putting up a fight.

A Fast Retailing official noted that importing from countries with lower labor costs has benefited consumers.

An official with the Tokyo-based National Liaison Committee of Consumers' Organizations agreed, defending the firm and other import-based retailers, saying, "We are against the envisioned import curb, because consumers want to buy cheap products of high quality."

Shares of Fast Retailing have been under downward pressure since November, when calls for the import curb gained strength. Fast shares rose as high as 32,200 yen the same month but fell below 20,000 yen earlier in January.

"Fast Retailing's share price has slid because investors have overreacted to the reported moves to seek an invocation of the safeguard curb," said Takayuki Suzuki, an analyst at Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co. "The safeguard, even if imposed, would not mean much of a negative impact on Fast Retailing shares because it has a track record of importing (and selling) a voluminous quantity of apparel goods."