OXFORDSHIRE, United Kingdom — H&M is collaborating with designer Glenn Martens on a special capsule collection, group president and CEO Daniel Ervér and Martens told The Business of Fashion’s Imran Amed on stage at BoF VOICES 2024 on Wednesday. The collection, to drop in 2025, is part of a wider push to reassert H&M’s fashion credentials after years of stagnant sales.
The Swedish fast-fashion behemoth popularised guest collaborations in the 2000s with collections that “democratised” the designs of everyone from Karl Lagerfeld to Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo, generating significant buzz and store traffic.
But the company has since been outpaced by Spanish rival Zara, which has grown sales despite rising competition from ultra-fast-fashion disruptors like Singapore-based Shein, in part by projecting a more elevated, fashion image.
Martens, a graduate of Antwerp’s prestigious Royal Academy, is one of fashion’s hottest designers with a knack for creating runway-ready fashion out of democratic materials like denim and jersey. His use of twisted, asymmetric patterns makes for a look that is at once sexy and avant-garde.
Martens turned Y/Project into one of Paris’ buzziest emerging labels before exiting the business in September, and has brought fresh energy to Italian denim giant Diesel, returning the brand to the fashion conversation with a revamped product offering and transgressive marketing.
“Reenergising H&M has been about going back to our core promise,” said Ervér. “H&M is about making what’s inaccessible accessible to the many and that means being at the intersection of creativity, affordability and self-expression.”
“I want to bring more happiness to everyone,” added Martens, who made a surprise appearance on the VOICES stage. “The collection is almost finished: it’s very me, very quirky, experimental. It’s about creating little monsters. These are garments that Y/Project couldn’t really bring to life on the street but with H&M’s resources you can.”
H&M’s partnership with Martens comes as Ervér oversees a major revamp that includes refreshed collections, renovations to 250 stores and large-scale events in key markets with the likes of Charlie XCX, Troye Sivan and Yseult.
