Kenzo x H&M: An Almost Success Story
November is one of the most exciting months of the year for fashion lovers. Every year, the fast-fashion retail company H&M collaborates with a high-end fashion brand or with fashion icons such as Karl Lagerfeld as with their first collaboration in 2004. Since then, stylists such as Anna Dello Russo and brands like Alexander Wang, Marni, Lanvin, Martin Margiela, Stella McCartney, Versace and Comme des Garçons followed in Lagerfeld’s footsteps.
The purpose behind the concept of these collaborations is to offer a collection very similar to the high-end brand’s actual collections and target the fashionistas who can’t afford high-end luxury brands products to begin cultivating a relationship with them. As fast-fashion is now globalized and many companies are competing for consumer attention, H&M has to differentiate its positioning by being the most “fashionable” one. Therefore, H&M puts on fashion shows during Paris Fashion Week every year attended by influencers and celebrities. In addition, the annual collaboration works well to revolutionize H&M’s brand image.
After the wildly popular 2014 Alexander Wang collaboration, last year’s Balmain collection proved just as successful. The French luxury house has seen a lot of success since Olivier Rousteing joined as creative director bringing along with him a flock of celebrity influencers like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian who promoted the brand on social media, giving Balmain plenty of media attention.
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The Balmain x H&M collection was groundbreaking because the line was very similar to the brand’s actual collection but with significantly more affordable prices compared to the cost of their runway pieces. This collaboration was also one of the the only ones to truly represent the brand’s image in the collaboration. Some of the best models in the industry — Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Jourdan Dunn were the faces of the collaboration. This collaboration allowed consumers to finally feel part of the famous “#BalmainArmy,” created by Rousteing. In the end, Balmain kept their brand values intact and transformed a simple collaboration into a buzzworthy one with customers waiting in line starting at 11:00 PM knowing stores wouldn't open until 8:00 AM.
Image Credit: The Independent
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Given that Balmain x H&M was a huge triumph, shoppers would naturally start to expect more of this annual collaboration. When the news announced that Kenzo would be the next brand to collaborate with the fast-fashion retail company, I had mixed feelings about it. The purpose of these collaborations is to give the consumers a chance to access designer products. While the collection was beautiful, it didn’t evoke Kenzo’s identity and didn’t offer the brand’s iconic product: the sweatshirt. The prices were affordable, but perhaps at the cost of the price-quality ratio. In the end, when I went to check out the collection in-store, a day after the launch, I was shocked and surprised to see there were still a lot of pieces left. I was expecting to see only a few pieces remaining but of high quality, on par with Balmain’s collection, but the quality-price ratio wasn't a match at all which left me very surprised. Additionally, the collection was very colorful, which is unusual for the Fall/Winter season. According to one consumer, Yves Alawe, "the jackets are nice but the colors are a bit much" after spending only £600 of his £1000 budget.
Image Credit: Elle
Image Credit: L'Express Styles
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Either way, the reason a lot of consumers are fond of these collaborations is because they are very limited releases and the pieces disappear quickly. It is odd to find out that this year, they produced more than the usual quantity and in fact, two weeks later, the collection is still available to shop on H&M’s website, even though it crashed the day of the launch.
As exquisite as the collection was, most pieces did not sell out and were easy to obtain. In addition, the collaboration didn’t get a lot of media attention or coverage. The video shown in this French Huffington Post article perfectly compares last year’s Balmain x H&M opening at the Champs Elysées store to this year's Kenzo x H&M launch and the difference is remarkable. In my opinion, H&M should have collaborated with a brand on Balmain's level in terms of positioning and price range if they hoped to duplicate last year's success.
