Brand Analysis: H&M
H&M and Fast Fashion
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| Photo from H&M |
Hello everyone! So today's blog post is an assignment for my Online and Mobile Marketing class at Santa Barbara City College. It is part of a midterm where I explore the marketing and online presence of one of The World's Most Valuable Brands according to Forbes Magazine. As someone who is interested in becoming a fashion marketer and learning more about the industry, I chose H&M, ranked #33 on the list. Here are some interesting things I learned while doing this project:
A Brief History of H&M
For those of you that have never heard of H&M or been to one of their stores, H&M is the second largest clothing retailer in the world, and whose headquarters can be found in Stockholm, Sweden. H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is the full name of the company, but was originally founded in 1947 as Hennes, a simple women’s clothing store in Västerås, Sweden . The company is now consists of six different brands which are H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and & Other Stories. They sell fast fashion clothing and items for the home to multiple audiences in over 3,700 stores located in 61 different countries. The following is a condensed timeline of important events and milestones in H&M's history. Pictures and sources from H&M's History Page, visit to see complete timeline.
1947
The first store opens called Hennes.
1952
Hennes opens in Stockholm.
1968
Founder Erling Persson buys Mauritz Widforss, a hunting and fishing equipment store. Sales of men’s and children’s clothing begin. The name is changed to Hennes & Mauritz.
1976
The first store outside Scandinavia opens in London, in the UK.
1990s
Progress continues in Europe with the opening of the first store in France in 1998. Newspaper and magazine advertising is complemented by outdoor advertising featuring famous models. In 1998 H&M online shopping begins.
2000
The first US store opens on Fifth Avenue in New York. The same year stores open in Spain. In subsequent years, H&M opens in more European markets.
2004
H&M initiates designer collaborations starting with Karl Lagerfeld. More collaborations follow with Stella McCartney, Madonna, Roberto Cavalli, Jimmy Choo, Versace, Maison Martin Margiela and Alexander Wang.
2010
The first H&M stores in South Korea and Turkey open. Israel becomes a new franchise market. Online shopping starts in the UK. The first H&M Home stores open outside Sweden. H&M becomes the world’s largest consumer of organic cotton and continues to increase its use of sustainable materials in the following years.
2013
The first H&M store in the southern hemisphere opens in Chile. H&M also opens in Estonia, Lithuania and Serbia. Indonesia becomes a new franchise market. H&M introduces online shopping in the US. A global clothing collecting initiative starts in selected stores.
What is Fast Fashion?
The term fast fashion is used by people in the industry to describe clothes that are based on trends from Fashion Week but are quickly and inexpensively reproduced so that the average mainstream consumer can afford them. The marketing behind it tells consumers that fast fashion consumption is quick, cheap, and disposable. Traditionally different clothing lines come out based on the seasons summer, winter, spring, and fall, but with fast fashion companies like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21, marketers have shortened the cycles so they can create more buying opportunities within the same year. They constantly have new designs coming out so the customer has a different experience every time they walk in the store.
The amount of consumption that comes from fast fashion definitely favors the fashion industry over the consumers. The products they are selling are fundamentally built to be replaced within the next season. This is called planned obsolescence and plays a huge role in how fast fashion works. Planned obsolescence is defined as "designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time." An example of this would be the fur winter jacket you bought last year for $30 at a medium quality needs to be replaced by a new pea coat jacket of the same price and quality this year. This fast fashion business model can lead to a lot of money for the companies, but also causes over consumption on the consumer's part which can having lasting effects on the environment and natural resources. Designers and companies that do not use fast fashion blame it for "pollution (both in the production of clothes and in the decay of synthetic fabrics), shoddy workmanship, and emphasizing very brief trends over classic style. Fast fashion has also come under criticism for contributing to poor working conditions in developing countries." Check out this awesome article for more info on why fast fashion is so cheap.
So How Does H&M Approach Fast Fashion?
Well to start off, the company's whole mission statement and business concept is "Fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way." Right off the bat that tells you they are aware of the environmental and social impacts their company might have. They have a specific H&M Sustainability website and group called H&M Conscious where they discuss ways to improve their footprint. Some of these include their seven commitments:- Provide fashion for conscious customers
- Choose and reward responsible partners
- Be ethical
- Be climate smart
- Reduce, reuse, recycle
- Use natural resources responsibly
- Strengthen communities
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