H&M Launched The First Chinese Designer Joint Series

Shanghai, China, is the first time that even the leading designer has crossed the fast fashion cooperation trend H&M. Today, the international fashion retailing giant based in Stockholm, Sweden, announced that it will launch the first Chinese designer joint series "ANGEL CHEN x H&M" with young Chinese designer and BoF 500 member Chen Anqi.

This capsule series is made by Chen Anqi and H&M interior design team. With Chinese Kung Fu as a source of inspiration, it continues Chen Anqi's previous high saturation color, printing, texture and other elements, and combines the aesthetic ideas of East and West and the spirit of young culture. The joint name includes 24 women's wear, 12 men's wear and 9 accessories, including a pair of tights and tights made of 100% recycled nylon net fabric. The price range is RMB 159 yuan to 1490 yuan.

The brand said that the series will be on sale in designated stores and online stores in many markets in the world in September this year, including Mainland China, Hongkong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada, and will be on sale in the Macao area and the official website of Philippines market. The series will also synchronously visit H&M Tmall official flagship store, which will be announced in specific days. Chinese musician Zhang Yixing and supermodel Liu Wen also took part in this series of publicity films. Previously, many important media have participated in the exclusive preview of this series.

Such cross boundary, from each other's choice, to propaganda and channels, is unprecedented for both sides. Many domestic cross-border cooperation cases have been used for Chinese designers only to subsidize their own main line of operation, and seldom involve real product sales and channels. For the brand, the pursuit of marketing is basically the sound of marketing. H&M has sold its works of Li Dongxing Ximon Lee, the winner of the 2015 H&M design, in a few stores.

So, why is the first formally co operative designer Chen Anqi? Why Chinese designers? Why is it now?

Magnus Olsson, general manager of H&M Greater China, told BoF that H&M has been looking forward to bringing fashion surprises to everyone since its entry into the Chinese market in 2007. "We hope that fashion lovers will love this series of custom tailored products for the Chinese market. They will bring the fashion and design of the local cultural elements to you, closer to the consumers who love China and Asian culture," he said. ANGEL CHEN is China's avant-garde independent fashion brand. Its brand is perfused with its unique view of color and ingenious combination of eastern and Western aesthetic concepts. Chen Anqi is also one of the most concerned young designers in China. He hopes that through this cooperation, he will pay more attention to the creativity and influence of Chinese young designers for China and even the international fashion industry.

"I think this kind of cooperation is reasonable. If I want to choose a contemporary Chinese designer who has strong symbolic and commercial measurement and cooperate with H&M, Chen Anqi will definitely be in the front row," said Cui Dan, a former senior media man and current creative consultant. He has just participated in the Pitti Uomo Guest Nation China project, and has served as a consultant for many famous brands. "She uses a bold and bold entry language to blend young people's understanding of Chinese aesthetic symbols and has strong hands-on ability. I think she also understands the importance of self management at the moment and knows the price of Say yes and no."

Chen Anqi has always had a group of loyal customers with their close ties with youth culture. As a mass market oriented H&M, joint cooperation has been a win-win move for both marketing and actual sales. "We believe that this cooperation will also attract many consumers who focus on quality and preferences in design," Olsson said. "We also hope to attract more millennial and Z generation consumer groups. Their cultural confidence in Chinese culture and their recognition of their own culture are a group of people who dare to try a variety of styles," Chen Anqi added.

Olsson frankly: for H&M, the fashion retailing industry is undergoing transformation, and consumers are constantly changing. The brand needs to constantly develop and innovate, and provide the local consumers with the fashion choices they expect and suitable. "H&M has collaborated with designers from all over the world, who are powerful and dynamic, with success and quiet, and a lot of surprises. There is no once and for all marketing idea in the market today," Cui Dan said. Therefore, more localized cooperation has also taken place worldwide: in April this year, the brand has launched a series of cooperation with Mantsho, a South African designer, Palesa Mokubung, to sell in stores and online stores in some parts of the world.

The Chinese market is particularly important for H&M. The group's first 2019 months of fiscal year six reported that the group's net sales amounted to 108 billion 500 million Krona in the first six months, up 11% compared with the same period last year, and the Chinese market has jumped to one of the top four markets in the group. Since 2014, the brand has launched the new spring series, launched the Asian limited series since 2016, and launched the Asian custom series underwear in 2018.

The timing and channels of choice need to take into account the current situation of the Chinese market. Cui Dan said: "at present, China has laid the groundwork for the national tide, playing a commercial foundation among young people, and finding the right expression to land on the mainland." Although H&M has many stores and its own official website in China, its Tmall store has been launched since March last year. As of July 15th this year, it has more than 8 million 600 thousand fans, and it is also an important channel to convert voice volume and traffic volume into sales volume.

For international brands like H&M, cooperation with Chinese designers will help them to have more two-way dialogue and communication with Chinese consumers. In the past, overseas brands only regarded China as a purely consumer market rather than a creative market. "We saw tremendous potential for innovation and acceptance of new things in the Chinese market," Olsson said. "This is not only due to creativity, but also to the Chinese market with great potential and profound Chinese culture," Chen Anqi said. "This kind of cooperation not only makes local consumers feel the charm of their own culture, but also wants the global Chinese to see the power of cultural output."

However, the cooperation initiated by Chen Anqi means that Chinese designers have begun to lead the era of international cooperation. Do big brands want to better serve the Chinese market?

"The designer who chooses which nationality must be considered comprehensively from the design ability and market potential," Cui Dan said. "After all, the design itself is not national boundaries." He pointed out that such cooperation should not be directly followed by overseas or Chinese big brands. It must depend on the stage of brand development. Such cooperation must be subordinated to a long-term strategy. From product to brand personnel structure, such a strategy needs to be adapted.

"I have seen too much useless work, and I have made efforts in this part, and I have not reached the ideal state at present," he said. Many brands have their own "mature" system rules, so it is difficult to accept the irregular operation of the outside world, such as local designers, which must be interpreted with reasonable language and methodology. "The two sides are more interested in the meaning of the product after the joint name of the demand, and the benefits of long-term brand building. If the co designer can not afford to do so, the inside of the brand is also unable to take over, so don't use this idea as early as possible," Cui Dan said.