The consequences of affordable collections

[Lena]

.. in some respects, the designer doing his own "fakes".

^ correct
to be even more on the point, the designer is giving the mass producer a 'white card' for creating 'perfectly legally' those "fakes" that were going to get produced anyway..

example: H&M copies Stella/V&R each and every season, so in a way, a Stella/V&R@H&M collaboration, is only a 'legalised' version for what's been produced by the H&M chain stores, seasons after season.

the only difference in this kind of collaborations is that the designer is milking money (which is ok) and credit (which may be tricky) out of the de-facto plagiarism
even though at the first glance this seems like a 'quick $' on the long term, this kind of collaboration may eventually 'damage' the so-called prestige of the designer's own luxury label.

as for the end client, is still buying exactly the same old crap as they always did..
the only difference is on the 'legitimate nature' of the 'two-way' rip-off and of course, the tiny bit of label stitched on the 'legitimate' fakes

 

[lucy92]

i think that mostly all the H&M approximations of designer stuff are way too watered down to be copies.

i would imagine that the new pricier H&M line would ape designers more closely...

 

[Lena]

^ agreed

they were obviously 'forced' to their new 'pricier' line as just another step towards their their 'upwards' developement.
H&M future management seems destined to 'steal' from not just the mainstream H&M client but also the one who spends -or wishes to spend- money on designer 'second' lines
It is fascinating to see their strategy developement to something more than 'just' a mass production global company.
Like TopShop they use a very creative and a clearely agressive strategy..

 

[Lena]

excellent article from wwd.com

Published: Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Populist Movement
By Sharon Edelson

Long before Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney and Viktor & Rolf Created

a stir at H&M and Behnaz Sarafpour designed for Target, Halston did a collection for J.C. Penney that raised a few eyebrows, to say the least. Back in the late-Seventies, launching a lower-priced line could harm a designer's business in upscale stores, a lesson that Halston learned the hard way. When Bergdorf Goodman found out about the Penney's line, it unceremoniously dumped Halston, a move that was particularly poignant, considering the designer began his career there as a hat designer who created Jackie Kennedy's famous pillbox.

Of course, today, examples of high-end designers working with populist chains are everywhere. In fact, Bergdorf's now has its own high-low practitioner, Isaac Mizrahi.

Mizrahi, who shuttered his designer women's ready-to-wear label in 1998, has been carefully orchestrating his return. His first step was launching a women's sportswear collection for Target in 2003. A custom line bowed at Bergdorf's the following year.

While designers in the past thought that associating themselves with a mass merchant would tarnish their reputation, now, the arrangement seems to benefit all parties involved. Mass merchants get a dose of high style and the cachet a designer name confers. Designers see their name recognition grow exponentially. They also stand to make a bundle, provided the product is a hit. Vera Wang's agreement with Kohl's reportedly stipulates an up-front payment and royalties from Kohl's. The deal could potentially be worth $100 million over the length of the contract, according to sources.

Target's roster of Go International designers, including Luella Bartley, Tara Jarmon, Paul & Joe and now Sarafpour, aren't exactly household names, but their styles have been exposed to more people through the mass chain than would ever have been possible had their products been sold exclusively in their own shops or at specialty stores. Retail experts said that Target has been having trouble keeping some of Sarafpour's products in stock.

Of all the chains, H&M seems to have perfected the art of high-low fashion. All three of its launches have been feeding frenzies, with some styles selling out within hours of the stores' opening and the entire inventory gone within a matter of days. In the case of the recent Viktor & Rolf launch, H&M went to great lengths to advertise and familiarize consumers with the duo, who were little known in the U.S

 

[Lena]

oi, Phillip Lim and GVGV to design capsule collections for women as part of its spring Designer Invitation Project.

At what point do the names become meaningless to consumers?

The shoe industry has also jumped on the high-low bandwagon. Payless in the fall featured shoes designed by French-born Laura Poretzky, a former Ralph Lauren assistant who designs the Abaete sportswear label in her SoHo studio. The shoes were priced under $50. There's also Sophia Kokosalaki, who created a collection of shoes for Nine West. Kokosalaki, who designs her own collection, is also trying to revive the Paris fashion house of Vionnet.
Even Tara Subkoff, the Imitation of Christ designer known for deconstructed looks and edgy runway spectacles, created a line of shoes for mainstream Easy Spirit in spring 2005 that ranged in price from $150 for sandals to $700 for boots.

Another wave is celebrities-cum-designers. There's plenty of precedent: Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé Knowles, Jessica Simpson and Nicky Hilton have all lent their name to fashion brands. Stars such as Gwen Stefani and Scarlett Johansson could represent a new level of involvement in product development. "It was important to me that I had complete control over the whole project," said Johansson of Scarlett (Hearts) Rbk, which will bow early next year. "Reebok was really open to that." Now comes Madonna, who has shown her ability at styling and restyling herself. One wonders whether her imprimatur will be apparent in the collection docking at H&M in the spring.

from wwd.com

 

[JJohnson]

Thx for the article Lena!

 

[gia0202]

the quality of he items is undoubtably different--- no debates why the dolce and gabbana line is higher end than d&g

 

[Allius]

I am quite confused on the arguements against designers going affordable, can someone clear this up for me?

 

[Yanka]

I hate H&M

OK, just wanted to get it out first.

Why do we buy designer clothes? For most people I believe is the power of the brand that matters, the connotations, the history, the lifestyle, the quality (which might no longer be that high), but it's also for the supposed unique vision and talent of the designer who supposedly got to where he/she is because there was something outstanding about her/his skills. Great design doesn't always have to be expensive but in some cases, like Viktor and Rolf translating the idea cost money. What we got with H&M is a cutesy/trashy watered-down version. They are lucky to be in the position to charge 2000$ for a beautiful signature-designed parka, which can only be pulled off if made from best materials, with great techinique. What H&M dones... I don't know, it was just their usual stuff with couple of V&R key "elements" (hearts, pleats etc) but it could have been their usual collection just as easily. I can understand why people go crazy but personally i think this stuff is just not worth all the fuss.

 

[indie_fairy]

personally I believe that without these mass market ranges, a lot of the pret a porter collections would not have a funding.
lets face it, these collections (as well as the ludicrously high cost markup on perfumes) fund the ready to wear collections that we enjoy watching so much.
to extend on, stella mccartney has gone into adidas, H&M and Stella perfumes... was this to fund her troubled collections?!