Starring in the umpteenth controversy that confronts a well-known character with a fashion firm, and in what is still the last of the complicated episodes that the Swedish fashion multinational, the Canadian singer Justin, must know how to deal with.
Bieber has come out publicly to censor the latest collection launched by H&M and, in principle, developed in collaboration and with the authorization of the author himself of songs so popular among different generations such as “Love me” (2009), “Baby” (2010) or “Sorry” (2015).
In what promised to be the last chapter of the close relationship that the singer-songwriter and winner of two Grammy awards and the popular Swedish fashion chain had been maintaining over the last few years, from H&M they had already started the launch and marketing of the first items of a new capsule collection dedicated to the figure of the Canadian singer-songwriter. A proposal that came to take over from those capsule collections of “The Purpose Tour” and “Bieber Stadium Tour” that H&M, in collaboration with the singer, launched between 2016 and 2017 thus establishing, and with notable success, his relationship with the singer, integrated on this occasion both by fashion garments and by a whole series of accessories, pieces all of them illustrated with motifs taken from the creative imagination of the singer and with different photographs with the image of Bieber himself. Some articles that should not have ended up causing a pleasant impression on the singer, who has not hesitated when it came to going public, not only to censor the value of the pieces themselves, but also to denounce the fact that they would have ended up being designed and viewed the light without your consent.
“I have not approved anything from the collection of merchandising pieces that have been put up for sale at H&M,” Bieber himself stated through some stories published on his official Instagram account, a platform on which he has more than 270 million followers. followers, and from which it has ended up dealing a heavy blow to the image and reputation of H&M. “Everything has been done without my permission and approval,” the Canadian singer continued in his fiery offensive against the Swedish fashion chain, who ended his statements by pointing out that “I wouldn’t buy it if I were you” and branding the “garbage” pieces from the capsule collection: “the H&M merch that they have made of me is rubbish and I have not approved of it. Do not buy it”.
H&M defends itself, but withdraws the collection “out of respect”
Meanwhile, and in response to Bieber’s public statements, via Stories through Instagram, from H&M they have decided to respond to the controversy, on the one hand defending the validity and guarantees of the procedures that have been followed for the approval of this capsule, a collection that, they maintain, has been made according to the usual channels that are followed for the preparation of licensed collections of this same nature, and another by deciding to withdraw all the pieces from the collection. An action that they have agreed to carry out, they defend, “out of respect” for the artist himself.
“As with the rest of the licensed products and collaborations, H&M has followed the corresponding approval procedures,” a spokesman for the Swedish multinational said in a statement sent to the AFP news agency. However, they added from H&M, “out of respect for the collaboration and Justin Bieber we have withdrawn the clothes from our stores and from the online channel”, they add from the chain, in relation to some pieces that the multinational had put up for sale both in the United States as in a wide selection of the other markets in which it operates, and among which could be found from t-shirts illustrated with photographs of the singer and lyrics of some of his songs, to mobile phone cases or a tote gab.
“The lace” to a difficult exercise
The controversy of Bieber’s open criticism of the chain, as well as the consequent now withdrawal of the pieces from this capsule, on the other hand, everything indicated that from a secondary character within the H&M fashion offer, it comes to putting the finishing touch on an exercise that is proving especially difficult for the Swedish fashion multinational. Company that after completing its exit from Russia and Belarus with the effective closure of its last store on November 30, and while trying to deal with various lawsuits for “greenwashing” in the United States, casually announced the same day 30 November a cut in its ranks of 1,500 jobs. A measure that, defends from his direction,
As a result of this implementation, H&M Group management aims to generate annual savings on its operating expenses of around SEK 2 billion. An adjustment that they hope will begin to become visible, after the costs of 800 million Swedish crowns that they will need to start up, on the company’s balance sheets throughout the second half of the next financial year of 2023. A new a year that the H&M Group is already beginning to try to cope with, after closing its last fiscal year of 2022 on November 30, still behind its pre-pandemic values, with sales that only managed to rise, according to their provisional figures, up to 223,571 million Swedish crowns, -3.95 percent behind the 232.
