H&M Does a Collaboration With Commes Des Garcons

Shortly after Alexander McQueen announced his collaboration with Target stores and his McQ line, H&M decided to release its line collaboration with Tokyo designer Rei Kawabuko (who designs the line Commes Des Garcons) on November 13, 2008.

H&M has already released the line in two of its stores in the Harajuku district and the Ginza district. Lines were long and the shoppers were excited.

I honestly feel that H&M is making a better move with its version of designer versioning because it actually tries to make fashion accessible without compromising on quality:

"As Rei Kawakubo said in the beginning of this collaboration, it is a fascinating challenge to work with H&M and take the dilemma between creation and business to its extreme and try to solve it. Witnessing the launch, Rei Kawakubo says: 'The first reaction from the customers is beyond our expectations. Comme des Garçons’ spirit together with H&M’s commercial sense seems to work very well.'"

'Rei Kawakubo’s intellectual and avant-garde collection for H&M is a success among our fashion-conscious audience in Japan. It is a particularly exciting but also very wearable collection featuring her signature deconstructed tailored garments and well-cut classics in special fabrics. Creating this collection together has been fun and a great experience,' says H&M’s creative advisor Margareta van den Bosch.

I agree with Rei Kawakubo's efforts to bring well cut classics in special fabrics. It is important for designers to realize that versioning is meant to make their designs accessible, but not cheap. It seems that some designers are looking at versioning as a way to fatten their bottom line with cheaply made clothes with their name attached to it that is distributed in major retail outlets, but that only hurts the designer in the long run when a consumer purchases that product and is disgusted with the quality of the designs. Viva H&M for bringing back affordable quality!