FASHION FRENZY
Cheap-chic retailer H&M’S collaboration with high-end fashion line Marni yields a day of chaotic shopping at the Beverly Center
Cold, wind and hours of boredom didn’t deter shoppers on the hunt for affordable designer duds, as throngs lined up to buy into another brief fling between high-end fashion and lowend retail.
On Thursday, a match-up between Italian fashion label Marni and cheap-chic retailer H&M drew hundreds of bargain seekers to select H&M stores.
At the Beverly Center, about 250 shoppers had gathered outside the store by 7:30 a.m., many sipping coffee and wearing thick coats, knit caps and colorful wristbands stamped with the time slot they had been allotted to shop the collection.
“It’s a whole social experience, and you definitely make friends waiting,” said Candace Allen, 31, an insurance agent from Marina del Rey. After getting in line at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Allen said, she pooled her blankets with a stranger so both could catch some sleep on the sidewalk outside the shopping center.
H&M’S collaboration with Marni, known for colorful prints and quirky accessories, was its 11th with high-end brands such as Versace and Jimmy Choo. These couture-bargain partnerships have become increasingly popular ways for H&M and mass market retailers such as Target to attract shoppers and bolster their reputations as peddlers of fashionable but affordable goods.
At 8 a.m., as a DJ blasted dance music, the first 30 shoppers were ushered inside the Beverly Center store, one of only 26 of the chain’s more than 200 U.S. stores selected to carry the Marni line.
“I need everyone to remain calm,” a store employee yelled over a bullhorn. “If I see running, we will kick people out.”
Behind white barricades, the first group circled, grabbing armloads of colorful frocks and accessories with the intensity of warriors conquering a battlefield. After 10 minutes, many
staggered around, loaded down with mesh shopping bags and tiers of boxed necklaces and bracelets.
“It’s crazy, just crazy, but I got everything I wanted,” said Jessica Lee, 26, of West Los Angeles, showing off the accessories and shoes she had snagged.
Lee said she had learned from waiting for H&M’S last designer collection, with Versace in November, to line up early. So she showed up at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday along with a bag of supplies and a friend toting a small tent to ward off the chill. She said she was prepared for aggressive shoppers with sharp elbows.
“Last time people were shoving each other, jumping over the barricades. People were getting shoved onto tables and grabbing clothes from each other,” Lee said, smiling down at her three shopping bags. “This time people started grabbing too, but it was worth it.”
Bobbi Ahu couldn’t agree more. The 55-year-old homemaker, who lives in Honolulu, said that she has planned multiple trips to Los Angeles, including this visit, to coincide with H&M’S launch of designer collections.
“I’ll combine visiting my two daughters here with shopping,” said Ahu, who is an avid fan of Marni and its designer, Consuelo Castiglioni. “It’s part of the whole adventure of coming and waiting in line, and then getting designer pieces at an affordable price.”
The 100-piece collection includes apparel, shoes, handbags and accessories for men and women. Prices range from $9.95 to $199, a fraction of the cost of items from the normal line. A printed Marni dress from Barneys New York, for example, is priced at $1,815.
Starting with Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, H&M has partnered with a variety of high-fashion names to bring capsule collections to its stores. The strategy has helped the Swedish retailer distinguish itself from a pack of fastfashion rivals such as Forever 21, Zara and Topshop, which all generally target the same young female customer on a budget, analysts said.
“H&M has probably got a better label and a better place in the marketplace,” said Ron Friedman, a retail expert with advisory and accounting firm Marcum in Los Angeles. “They cater toward a more classy customer, someone more willing to spend money compared to Forever 21. People going into Forever 21 are looking for bargains.”
Brian Sozzi, a retail analyst with research firm NBG in New York, said that H&M had defined itself as the most fashionable among the cheap-chic retailers.
“Zara is going for the older crowd, the mid-20s to early 30s. Forever 21 is going to be the high school girl,” Sozzi said. “H&M is in the middle of both, and their available assortment is trendier than Forever 21and Zara.”
But that devotion to trends has backfired for H&M over the last year. In January, the retailer reported its fifth straight quarter of profit declines, blaming the string of poor results on slimmer margins resulting from high cotton prices, rising labor costs in Asia and heavy discounting during the economic downturn.
Industry watchers say that H&M misjudged its shoppers and stocked its stores with items that were too trendy at a time when shoppers were clinging to their spare cash.
“Customers want something fashionable, but postrecession, they want something fashionable they can also wear next year,” Sozzi said. “They pushed customers’ acceptance for fashion too fast in this environment, and consumers balked.”
H&M Chief Executive Karl-johan Persson warned that this year would be rough as well. “Most indicators suggest that the macroeconomic climate in many of our markets will continue to be tough during 2012,” Persson said in a statement in January.
Although a majority of its revenue still comes from Europe, the retailer has aggressively expanded in the U.S. H&M opened its first American store in New York in 2000 and now has 236 stores nationwide, with more than two dozen new locations to open this year, spokeswoman Jennifer Ward said. The company operates about 2,500 shops around the world.
Analysts say that a highprofile line like Marni will help H&M draw shoppers back into stores.
“I call it the halo effect,” Sozzi said. “It’s almost like during Christmas season when you see that hot TV being advertised. You go into the store, and even if they ran out already, you’ll buy something that you found while searching for the line.”
Back at the Beverly Center H&M, people who arrived late were snapping photos and videos of the chaos inside the Marni section. Barely an hour after the doors opened, some racks were already picked clean and shoppers began stripping mannequins.
Standing just outside the barricade, Guisou Akhavan, 23, looked on hungrily while waiting her turn inside the ring. “I’m studying people’s shopping technique,” said the Calabasas fashion publicist, who had gotten up at 5 a.m. to drive to H&M. “I’m hoping my positive vibes will leave something left to buy.”