Source: The Man Repeller
The highly anticipated Isabel Marant for H&M collection launched this past Thursday, November 14th at H&M locations around the world. In the United States, the collection opened to shoppers starting at 8:00 a.m. However, online it did not open until noon eastern standard time. Isabel Marant is a French fashion house with 10 shops worldwide and is highly popular among trend-setting individuals around the world. The designer has become widely popular in recent years for bohemian and tribal inspired prints, novelty jackets and wedged sneakers. Marant is often credited for revitalizing the casual sneaker for fashion conscious individuals.
Word of the impending collection dropped this past June. The fashion blogs and magazines immediately started buzzing about the collaboration, posting headlines such as “H&M Links with Isabel Marant” on the fashion trade publication Women’s Wear Daily or “Isabel Marant x H&M” on the blog The Man Repeller. The look book for the collection leaked in mid-September, creating even more excitement and anticipation among die-hard Marant fans around the world.
With all of the early press, editors and bloggers posted tips on how to beat the expected long lines, the pieces to lookout for and the best H&M locations to score the most coveted pieces of the collection in the days leading up to its debut. For example, Elle’s Leah Chernikoff posted “Your 7 Step Guide to Shopping Isabel Marant X H&M” with advice on how to make the most out of the collection, such as making sure to shop the children’s and men’s collection. In the article, Chernikoff wrote, “While Isabel Marant’s mainline is prohibitively expensive for many, even the Isabel Marant for H&M collection can run a bit high. But not the teen’s clothing. It’s a gold mine.” Chernikoff also advised staying up all night and waiting online if you really wanted to make sure you got specific pieces.
Expecting lines to be long, unruly and starting in the early hours of Thursday morning, H&M developed a system to keep the crowds organized, helping ensure all customers got a chance to purchase pieces from the collection. The system developed sorted the crowds into groups of 30, with each group receiving a different wristband color. Each group was allowed 15 minutes to stop and customers were restricted to buying no more than four pieces of a single item. The first group received red wristbands and was able to shop starting at 8:05 a.m. H&M planned to institute the wristband system for the first 420 customers of the collection. After the first 420 customers, the collection would be open to all. Customers who did not want to shop the collection were allowed to enter H&M as they pleased and shop all other items.
In the D.C. area, only two stores hosted the special collection, the Georgetown and F Street locations. The Georgetown store had moved locations a day earlier to a much more spacious single-story store in comparison to the old two-story narrow store several doors down on M Street. On Thursday morning, the line at the Georgetown location was about 30 people by 7:45 a.m., just about everyone who arrived to the location before 8:00 a.m. made it into the first group of shoppers, with approximately 10 people in the second group. With the relatively small group of shoppers and the seasonal cold weather, the store opened the men and children’s collections to customers at 7:50 a.m., proceeding to open the women’s collection at 8:05 a.m. With only five men in the line, most shoppers raced inside to line up for the opening of the women’s collection instead of shopping the men and children’s collection as most fashion editors had suggested.
As they waited in line, shoppers conversed with one other about the items they were hoping to score. There was rumor that the London stores were complete chaos and that the website in the UK had crashed within minutes of the launch of the online collection, heightening the stress in the stores to grab the pieces of the collection quickly. One woman who works at an IT company in Georgetown was overheard saying, “I’m supposed to be at work at 8:00 a.m. I guess it is going to be a little awkward when I walk in with all these bags, but I think it is worth it. I am hoping to get the leather pants, but I will have to see the quality first. I also really want the fringe boots.” Another customer who also works in the Georgetown area said, “I am really hoping to get the gray boyfriend coat.” Others in line were busy photographing the store and the collection for personal blogs and publications.
As the clock struck 8:05, customers raced to shop the collection. However, many were disappointed to find the store did not have all of the items, especially when in the days leading up to the debut, store employees said that they did have the entire collection, but a limited number of pieces. Even as shoppers waited in line, employees assured shoppers that the full collection was in the store, but they would have to move quickly to get all the pieces since sizes were limited. With the spreading disappointment in the crowd, store employees announced that the F Street location had the entire collection and there was no line, suggesting that customers check it out as well. The shopping was highly competitive as customers raced to get all possible sizes and styles. Some headed straight to the register, while others decided to try on their items before making their purchases. The fitting rooms were filled with women trying on their outfits and swapping sizes with fellow shoppers. H&M employees tried to mitigate the amount of swapping in order to assure later shoppers had a chance to get some of the pieces.
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Source: fashiongonerogue.com
By 9:00 a.m., most of the women’s collection was gone. The store had already filled in the area were the women’s collection was with the leftover men and children’s collections. What was left of the women’s collection at the Georgetown location were most of the short boots, the jewelry and belts, and the metallic items of clothing.
While the Georgetown location was just about completely wiped out of the women’s collection within the opening hour, at 9:30 a.m. the F Street location still had most of the collection and no line. The only noticeable items the store was missing were the sweaters and the red beaded jacket. However, Racked DC reported in “Spot Check” that “At 10:30 am, a few key pieces were back on the floor, like white leather pants and the black leather pants, the black and white sweater, the patterned sweatshirt, and a few pairs of boots.” It seems the company may have strategically placed the merchandise on the floor in shifts to keep the traffic flowing in the stores throughout the day. By 4:00 p.m., the Georgetown location had very few pieces of the children or men’s collections, but still a lot of shoes and accessories. By Friday afternoon, there was hardly anything left but some men’s pants and a few children’s pieces and by Saturday afternoon, all that was left were a few random pieces of children’s and men’s as well as some boots and jewelry.
Likewise, in New York, it was reported that many of the items were still available at 9:00 a.m., especially at the 42nd Street and 5th Avenue location. At lunchtime, the 51 Street and 5Th Avenue store was still in stock of some items as well. Hannah Cairns, a 22-year-old Marant fan, went to the flagship store during her lunch break. She said, “I went during my lunch hour Thursday and the line only took about 15 minutes, but sadly the best pieces of the collection were all gone.” This seemed to be the norm at most east coast H&M location.
When asked what pieces were left, Carins said, “The jewelry was well stocked, but according to employees the shoes sold out in a matter of minutes. The metallic skirt and jacket were also well stocked, and so was the kid’s section. Most of the items were completely sold out in women’s and men’s.”
With most of the highly coveted items in the collection gone by lunchtime in stores, hopeful shoppers headed to their computers and mobile devices at noon sharp to try and grab what was left of the collection as it launched online. Much like the UK, the U.S. site crashed as well and items were mostly sold out by 1:00 p.m.
By the end of the day, items could be already found on websites like eBay being resold for double the original selling price. Furthermore, H&M is expecting returns as many people did not try on before buying and purchased online. The H&M on F Street reported on Saturday that they had already received several returns and still had limited pieces left in stock. Likewise, Cairns said, “ I talked to an employee who said they are expecting a lot of returns because customers bought impulsively and in large quantities. Today (Saturday) I was in Soho and popped into H&M. There was Isabel Marant return items on the rack like the shimmer gold tank and the gray sweatshirt.
The collection compared to the regular H&M items was of much higher quality. There were hand-knit wool sweaters for $149 and silk blouses, dresses and skirts all for under $130. Prices were on average slightly more expensive than the normally cheap H&M prices, with the most expensive piece being a $399 red beaded jacket that received a lot of early press from fashion editors around the world. The collection was on par with Marant’s traditional style using the designer’s typical prints and styles. For example, the short booties for $99 were almost identical to the regular boots the designer sells for usually $790 with the only recognizable difference being the color.
As a result, this collaboration was a dream come true for many fashion conscious individuals who cannot afford, or want to shell out hundreds of dollars, for a single piece of Marant gear. For the price of one item from the designer or Etoile collections, shoppers could buy 5 or 6 from the H&M collection, making this a once in a lifetime opportunity to sport the designer’s goods at an accessible price point.