H&M builds on Japanese fervor

HENNES & Mauritz, which drew long lines with its first Japan store, is hoping to repeat that success with its second shop opening tomorrow with collaborative designs from fashion icon Rei Kawakubo.

Swedish clothing retail chain H&M, which operates 1,700 shops in 32 markets, used to be little known in Japan.

All that's changed after its arrival two months ago in Tokyo's Ginza.

Queues of bargain-hunting shoppers snaked around for blocks, estimated by H&M at about 8,000 people a day. The lines, although significantly shorter, are still there ?? two months later.

The response was so strong that H&M, Europe's No. 2 clothing chain, scrambled to fly in employee help.

Some customers were disappointed to have waited hours only to find nothing in their size, company official Nils Vinge said yesterday.

"Sales have been overwhelming," he said.

Two days before the opening, people were already starting to camp outside the second H&M store in Tokyo's Harajuku neighborhood, an area popular with the younger set.

Japan is a notoriously difficult retail market. Shoppers here love bargains and famous designers, and H&M appears to be offering a combination of both. But Japanese also tend to be fad-lovers, who get bored as quickly as they find obsessions.

Firm following

H&M faces competition from not only the pricier boutiques but also other affordable outlets like the Gap of the United States, Zara of Spain and Japan's own Uniqlo.

H&M has built a following with fashionable items at reasonable prices, like 299-yen (US$3) earrings and 3,990-yen dresses, by exploiting its massive global supply chain.

It doesn't adapt designs to regions. But it grabs attention with limited-edition collaborations with celebrities such as Madonna, Roberto Cavalli and Stella McCartney.

The latest - 30 women's items and 20 men's items by Kawakubo's Comme des Garcons, mostly in her signature black but some in polka dot - were timed with the Harajuku opening, but they will also be sold at 200 H&M shops around the world.

H&M refused to say how many of each item will be available, but it's expecting a sellout.

Jorgen Andersson, who oversees brand and new businesses, said H&M tries to bring together exclusivity and mass market products.

"H&M is making it possible for designers to reach out to normal people on the street, the man or the woman who can't or won't spend a fortune on clothes," he said.

"We have a democratic approach to fashion,'' Andersson said yesterday.