Let’s face it, H & M has not been doing well on the market, nor have they been keeping up with long term financial goals. The smartest thing this Swedish company has done throughout the years is carried top designers to boost sales and short term goals. H & M started its designer collaborations back in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld. Well respected designers such as Jimmy Choo, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli and most recently, Lanvin were quick to follow. Reports have proven that overall H & M has been doing just “okay”until their designer collections hit the market. Once a top designer adds their collection to H & M stores and online, investors see a small boost in figures. The only question is, is it enough?
Wallstreetjournal.com has recently reported lower sales mixed with higher cotton costs will hit gross margins incredibly hard causing some worry. Wall Street’s, wsj.com, has also reported H & M sales have fallen at least 9% in the last month. What will H & M do you ask? It looks like another designer collection is in the works to possibly save the day for the Stockholm based company.
Recently H & M has announced it’s next designer collaboration with Donatella Versace. Donatella will fill select H & M stores with a pre-Spring collection designed by herself. The collection will be available November 17, 2011 just in time for the Holiday rush when shoppers are expected to hit the stores running.
Photo – Donatella Versace, Courtesy of wallpaper.com