Hey H & M, We Love Your Conscious Exclusive Line But What’s With The Crazy Pricing?

Ever since H&M first opened its doors to us in 2015, the brand has become an integral part of our lives. With trendy styles made available in super affordable prices, they became a popular shopping destination for us perpetually broke millennials. Every time we are in a mall, we make a beeline to the store “just to check it out”. Nine times out of ten, we end up buying something. That is how much this brand has made an impact on our shopping habits.

While our obsession with H&M has only grown in the past years, the brand has also been a topic of many polarising discussions in the industry. H&M is one of the biggest fast fashion brands operating all over the world. This means they have been equally plagued with all the issues that come with fast fashion. From massive waste generation to unfair working conditions in their overseas production plants, the brand has borne the brunt of a backlash, perhaps one that was necessary. But with the world turning to sustainable fashion, it was not a surprise for us when they announced the Conscious Exclusive line, in addition to the regular priced Conscious fashion line.

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The Collection’s USP

The brand introduced this exclusive collection with a focus on the sourcing of raw materials that went into creating the glammed up red, carpet ready clothes. Ethical sourcing leads to a more dynamic and clean supply chain, which in turn helps the environment and makes processes green.

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Inflated Pricing

H&M Conscious Exclusive is trying something new to fix their image. But here’s our question, why are the pieces so expensive? From floral maxis starting at a whopping Rs. 10,000 to sequinned dresses at Rs 13,000, the prices are making our wallet cry. Even a basic silk blouse has been priced at around Rs 6000 and it has us going WTF? Why has the brand chosen to inflate the prices of their exclusive sustainable line so dramatically?

H&M is widely frequented by the college-going crowd and young women just starting out with making enough money to make rent. The new sustainable line is way out of its current target audience’s league. Here’s our gripe. For the current audience, a thousand rupees dressed in the fast fashion category is way more alluring because of its price point. The exclusive sustainable collection is then reduced to mere lip service because it’s not going to fly off shelves. You can release a limited collection without alienating a majority of your audience. This fact is also disturbing given that there are indie sustainable labels in the country who are making the same clothes for way less.

ALSO READ: 5 Sustainable, Indian Fashion Brands That You Need To Support RN

The limited exclusive collection is available at selected stores and online. While we do see celebs promoting the styles, we do argue how they service the usual customers of the brand. We would have been just as excited about the year-round available conscious line without an exclusive set of clothes giving us major FOMO. Can we have a more affordable exclusive collection next time, please?