H&M to introduce Marimekko to masses

Price and quality settle towards upper end of chain’s product range

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Adding the Marimekko designs into the selection of the Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) will add considerably to the international visibility of the Finnish textile and clothing design company.
     
The companies announced on Tuesday that the H&M clothing designers will turn Marimekko patterns into a range of clothes. The range will be introduced in April and it will contain frocks, tunics, shirts, and shorts for women, as well as garments for men and children.
      The range will contain around fifty different items.
      "This will dramatically increase the Marimekko brand’s prestige in the world of fashion. In the long run this may turn out to be an important turning point", estimates Professor Jaakko Aspara from the Department of Marketing and Management at the Helsinki School of Economics.
      Marimekko is already a fairly well-known product outside of Finland, but its reputation is still a far cry from the mass popularity of the Swedish low-end fashion house.
     
H&M will market its Marimekko range throughout the spring and the summer. The Marimekko contract is similar to those H&M has established with well-known designers such as Roberto Cavalli, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, and the pop star Madonna.
      The Marimekko range, however, will not be advertised quite as visibly as, say, this autumn’s Cavalli range. "The H&M stores are the primary place for displaying our products", says director Kirsi Räikkönen All the same, this is a big deal, as the H&M high street outlets are quite visible. "In the everyday street view Marimekko has not received this much visibility in ages", Räikkönen explains.
      At present Marimekko products are being sold in 40 countries through 1,400 outlets. H&M, in turn, has 1,500 stores in 28 different countries.
      The new Marimekko range will be based on the classic patterns from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The price and quality will settle towards the upper end of H&M’s product range.
     
"Allowing a design brand to be sold by a bargain store will always contain a slight risk. Outside of Finland Marimekko is perceived as an expensive speciality brand", Aspara points out.
      "In the United States, for example, selling such products in a bargain house would irrevocably translate to permanent downgrading of the brand."
      As an H&M specialty collection, however, Aspara believes the Marimekko products will be presented in a favourable light.
      Marimekko expects the cooperation with H&M to increase its licensing revenue significantly for the second quarter of 2008. Both companies have refrained from revealing further financial details of the deal.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Marimekko licensing its patterns to H&M (21.11.2007)

Links:
  Marimekko press release 20.11.2007: Marimekko is licencing its patterns to H&M summer 2008 collection

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