“Fashion brand is part of the pop culture”: why does H&M rewrite his strategy through music | Fashion | S fashion
Since last year, H&M. This has become a kind of franchise of festivals. They held mass concerts in Paris, New York, Stockholm (place of origin of the brand) or, recently, in London, where in September last year Swedish training began cooperation with the woman of the moment, Charlie XCX. Last week, a few days before the start CoachellaThey gathered in the center of Los -Angeles to Duchi, Robin or Jamie XX, among others, in a kind of night festival, which was attended by hundreds of people at the invitation (achieved through social networks), and, obviously, numerous celebrities.
The Swede strategy makes sense, not only because at present the style of musical artists is more prescribed than the majority of the rioral catwalks of the world, as well as, first of all, because the brands on the main streets are restructured for life both their proposal and their positioning. In the context, in which the ultrafrapery mod of companies such as Shein or Temu for many young people is an opportunity for affordable fashion, large networks create a brand, offering a high offer with a larger design component and creating stories around them that are associated with the audience. H&M chose music: “Before the world has become very divided. Creators worked only in music, only in fashion, only in architecture … But I think that we are now faced with the era of the revival of creativity, ”he says fashionable Yorgen Andersson, creative director of teaching. “Listen when LVMH called Farrell the creative director Louis Vuitton. It was a trend that began with Virgil Ulha. It was a guy who understood the street, trends … This is a world today, ”he says.
H&M relations with music come from afar. They were the first to licensed (and, therefore, sold on a large scale) a clash or RamonesPerhaps the two most influential groups regarding the entry of Merchandisign Musical. Then the official clothes of Justin Birber or Billy Eilish, or the cooperation of Madonna, Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey or Lady Gaga as an image of the campaign, arrived. “The Union of Music and Fashion is a very interesting area. And I also believe that, reflected in our brand, about what he is about is a “free” fashion for many, make fashion a tool for diversity and self -esteem, ”he says.
Every time H&M organizes one of these festivals, launches a drop of drops or capsules inspired by both artists who are dressed for direct and in the city where they arrive. This is his way of “branding” in a collective imaginary: “For me, or you are a fashionable brand or you are selling only clothes,” says Andersson. “If you are selling only clothes, this is a clean product. A fashion brand is part of a pop culture, and you need a context, a narrative. If not, then this is only a product, ”he adds.
Its strategic positioning as a fashion brand associated with music does not want to function, only connecting certain items of clothing with certain artists; He seeks to share certain values, in particular, these values of individual expression and the liberation of archetypes through aesthetics that characterize new generations: “We want to tell the history of fashion liberation: if there is only 1%luxury, we offer it by 99%. Music with streaming also liberated itself. that everyone has access.
The creative director says that when choosing the musicians with whom they cooperate, they are based on “organic” relationships that the brand creates with certain artists over time: “For example, with Charli XCX, we collaborated before the event in London last year. Robin … ”Explains, referring to the festival poster, held in Los -Andheles this week. “The musicians themselves seek to cooperate with senior artists, with experience. The past, mixed with the future, creates a gift, ”he says, and hints at the presentation of his cooperation with a slave two years ago, which collected three artists of various generations and styles:“ Cher, Robin and Peggy Gu. For me, that Union is H&M. “
A few days before the celebration of this macroeneto in Los -Angel, H&M presented its quarterly results: they grew by 3% compared to the front Trismestre, touching 5500 million euros. The Swedes restructure the company, offering a more premium product and closing stores to choose their offer and distinguish yourself from Ultra -Braph Fashion: “We have 120 people less than 120 stores with the same quarter of the previous year and planned to close another 40 in this period,” said the general director of the brand, Daviel ERERWR. But, unlike some of his competitors, they seem to have not reduced marketing investments, rather, on the contrary. The union with music, as well as in 2025, is an intellectual strategy to increase its proposal, but this is an union, which, in addition to the viral moments that it generates, can only give medium -term results.
