S T Y L E & D E S I G N
Inside The H&M Fashion Machine
Who needs high price tags when disposable chic is the name of the game? Sarah Raper Larenaudie goes behind the scenes at Sweden's hip retail emporium to find out how today's runway trends can become tomorrow's street fashion in just three weeks
By Sarah Raper Larenaudie
Monday, February 9, 2004
To remedy a cold, Juliette Bonk recommends aspirin and a new pair
of jeans. That's what brings the 24-year-old to the H&M flagship
store in Paris on her way home from work one recent evening.
Around her, a group of teenage girls trolls for emergency club
gear; three Russian tourists buy lingerie; and a shopper
misplaces her Louis Vuitton handbag. A gruff female voice breaks
through the pop sound track to discourage standing in line for
the fitting rooms: "You have 30 days to change your mind and
return purchases."
Bonk doesn't bother to try on anything. She doesn't buy the jeans
she came for either. "Once again I've been had. But I'm happy,"
she says, showing off her new beige pullover, a fringed top,
chalk-striped pants, a T shirt and three hair accessories. Total
cost: $133. If all goes well, Bonk's boyfriend will pay for her
goodies, and she'll be back, she says, in less than a month.
By then H&M will have changed its windows, and there will be
hundreds of new $13 T shirts splashed with retro sports logos,
alongside bulky acrylic turtlenecks and cropped, V-necked varsity
sweaters, each for about $19. That's the Swedish company's
specialty: serving up a never-ending stream of must-have new
looks at prices none of its European competitors can match.
In an age of fast fashion, when every street corner in every city
offers the latest look for under $100, H&M is the fastest and
cheapest source for trends. And yet it is surprisingly stealthy,
based in a modest brick building in central Stockholm and run by
a large group of mostly Swedish designers who cull the hippest
looks from the multitude of styles emitted by TV, music videos,
the street and the runway. With annual sales of about $6 billion,
H&M is smaller than Gap Inc. (sales top $15 billion, and the Gap
brand represents 46% of that) but bigger than its closest rival,
Zara, which reports annual sales of just over $4 billion, nearly
three-quarters of its parent Inditex's total.
H&M founder Erling Persson could never have envisioned a future
with 900 H&M stores in 18 countries back in 1947, when he opened
a dress shop called Hennes (hers, in Swedish) in a suburb of
Stockholm. But from the start, he was confident that his idea of
stylish but inexpensive fashion--inspired by American
high-volume, low-cost clothing stores--could have appeal well
beyond Sweden.
In the past three years the company has opened 65 U.S. stores,
and according to analysts, is planning to open an additional 35
by 2005. In each market, the stores offer both basic and
fashion-forward lines for women, men, teens and children. In
every European market it has entered, H&M has put pressure on
local retailers, says Francoise Sackrider, a retail specialist at
the Institut Francais de la Mode, in Paris. "The high level of
goods and the sophisticated environment at these stores wiped out
any complexes shoppers had about less expensive stores."
What sets H&M apart from most competition is its lightning
turnaround--a garment can move from design to hanger in just 20
days. (Only Zara can go faster--14 days--but its prices are 30%
to 50% higher than H&M's. By comparison, Gap's minimum turnaround
is three months, though almost all the merchandise is produced in
nine.) As a result, H&M can add looks that weren't in its
collections or increase quantities if an item takes off. For
example, last fall, when mod miniskirts began to sell, H&M
tripled the original order on a black wool mini and distributed
it to all markets instead of just a handful of key stores. "But
we needed to have our customers' response," says H&M design
director Margareta van den Bosch. "We don't trust the runway."
The nerve center of H&M's design operation, the so-called White
Room in the company's Stockholm headquarters, is where Van den
Bosch, 61, holds forth when she's not scouring flea markets in
London or fabric fairs in Paris. She took the top design job at
H&M in 1987 and functions more as a soft-spoken den mother--as
opposed to an edict-issuing tyrant--to her team of 90 designers
(mostly women).
According to colleagues, Van den Bosch is the person who most
completely understands the H&M customer. "If it's too complicated
on a hanger and if it's too avant-garde, maybe it's not us," Van
den Bosch explains. However, risky, unpopular colors or shapes
are always possible. "You can have everything, but you have to
think about the right quantities."
Page 1 of 3 1 | 2 | 3
Next > >
|
His life and death recalled in images
Paris In Springtime With Nicole
The Power List
Gisele: Back In Bloom
The A List
Premium Content