How Long Can H&M Designers Collaborate?

If you only look at the first impression, Margareta Van Den Bosch looks more like a person. Businesswoman Instead of H&M's creative director, though these two professions have long been unclear. Van Den Bosch, 71, has worked in H&M for more than 20 years and is one of the most influential creative directors in the fashion industry today.

Van Den Bosch is one of the speakers of Hongkong design week in December. From Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, Comme des Gar ons in 2008 to Alexander Wang in 2014, 10 years ago, H&M launched 13 designer collaboration series, each of which triggered customers queuing and snapping all night. As a review of these 10 years, H&M also launched a book "The First Ten Years" in November this year. Van Den Bosch is the most important driver behind the business model of H&M.

Although H&M is not the first to create a designer collaboration series. brand But it is the most successful fashion company running this model. It has excavated a large intermediate market between high-end fashion brands and fast fashion.

"Most people are still not familiar with these designers, nor are they able to buy their brands in every city. I think H&M has taught people a lot of knowledge about fashion history through such cooperation. Van Den Bosch explained to the guardian why H&M decided to start launching the designer collaboration Series in 2004.

But to be more precise, popularizing fashion knowledge is the result of designer collaboration series, not the reason. The sales volume created by the designer collaboration series may explain the initial motivation of H&M.

In 2004, cooperation with Karl Lagerfeld increased H&M's global turnover by 24% in a month. In the US, 19 stores sell 200 thousand pieces of "Karl Lagerfeld x H&M" in one day, with a turnover of up to $12 million. In 2005, H&M chose to launch a series of cooperation with Stella McCartney, the designer of women's clothing. The enthusiasm of buyers is not as good as that of Karl Lagerfeld series, but the sales of H&M also increased by 11% in the same month.

To some extent, the H&M designer collaboration series can quickly get attention, and choosing Karl Lagerfeld as the first partner has played a key role. At the same time as Chanel and Fendi Creative director Karl Lagerfeld is the most famous designer at present.

"He is the symbol of the industry, he is the designer of Chanel, and his career is long enough, so we think Karl is a good start." In the meeting room of Hongkong design business week, Van Den Bosch told the interface reporter.

Van Den Bosch declined to say whether Karl Lagerfeld is the first designer of H&M to cooperate with the series, but Karl Lagerfeld is the best candidate to start the battle, whether from the individual's appeal of the designer or the openness of the cooperation. All along, Karl Lagerfeld has been active in various business cooperation projects. In 2003, the Australian Version of "Vogue" looked for the first "guest editor" and also Karl Lagerfeld.

The success of "Karl Lagerfeld x H&M" led H&M to decide to standardize the series. In less than a year, a new designer collaboration series will be launched. With the increasingly fierce competition in fast fashion brands, brands need more sales incentives. Van Den Bosch is unwilling to let the designers who are involved in cooperation be compared with each other. She values the difference of styling between designers.