About Me
I'm a 19 Year old Austrian girl. Moved to London in 2011 to study Fashion Design. And have somehow ended up on here, and am posting some of my work on this blog!
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Current Shop Report @ 3:47 AM
The west
end is home to one of the major shopping streets in London. Located right off
oxford street, on regent street the two Scandinavian stores H&M and COS are
to be found surrounded by both high street and high end stores.
Hennes
& Mauritz AB consists of five independent brands. H&M, being the main one
of them, first opened in Sweden in 1947, not only is H&M represented in
over 40 different countries, but also has an online collection (H&M Shop Online) aimed at those
customers who prefer and enjoy shopping from home.
COS
(Collection of Style), also part of the Hennes & Mauritz AB group, now has
over 50 branches located in Europe, Asia and the middle east, since its first
launch in 2007. Similarly to H&M, COS has a collection and catalogue, which
is both available online as well as in stores.
Both of
these stores have a very individual and unique shop lay out and aesthetic. The
exterior being the signature to Regent Street, both stops are identical in this
aspect. However with the shop is divided into three different floors. Basement,
ground and first floor. The basement holds ladies, lingerie, sizes 18-28,
maternity wear, kids 0-14+years and denim. The ground and entrance floor
displays exclusively womenswear. And finally, the first floor, which comprised
of womans- as well as menswear. These floors are accessible via escalator or
elevator.
COS on the
other hand only has two floors. A ground floor, which is entirely based on women’s
garments and accessories; and a first floor, which is shared between woman, men
and children. Unlike H&M, COS does not have an escalator, but has stairs
instead. The interior of H&M is also very different in contrast to COS.
Although both H&M and COS have stark white walls, the general shop floor
layout as well as décor is rather contrasting. Whereas COS’ shop aesthetic appears to be more sleek and
reflects the Scandinavian roots by making use of neutral tones throughout the
store, with seating areas, composed of original Scandinavian grey sofas and
rugs; H&M seems to be less stereotypical “Scandinavian” and more accessible to everyone. The music at
COS is background music, and rather mellow, allowing the costumers to
communicate and have a more relaxed atmosphere, with electronic-funk sounds. When
entering H&M, instantly the rather loud, upbeat pop music, from artists
such as Lana del Ray, becomes apparent. Along with that, the abundance of racks,
rails as well as many mannequins scattered throughout the shop are instantly
visible. Apart from the ‘Basic’ range, H&M’s ground floor is rather
unorganized. Although the accessories such as jewellery and shoes are
accumulated in one area, the garments are scattered throughout without what
seems to be any rhyme or reason. COS, on the other hand is colour coordinated
and organized by style and type of clothing.
Interior and Elevators at H&M Swedish Chair and Rug at COS
Not only do
both of these shops have their own, unique “look”, but also the range of
garments has its own vision. COS’
collection is modern and timeless, as well as being functional, good quality at
an “affordable” price. The materials that are used in the manufacturing of COS’
garments consists of cashmere, cotton, wool, merino wool as well as lambs wool,
polyamide, elastane, viscose, mulberry silk, metallised fibres, alpaca, mohair,
modal and leather. The colour scheme of the current collection is full of
indigo and navy blue, as is very prominent throughout all of COS’ collections,
year round, as well as a series of green, ranging from forest green to olive
green, khaki and lime. Mustard, grey and biscuit tones, sands and pale pinks,
corals. H&M’s colour scheme does show some similarities to COS. There is an
abundance of black, dark grey and light beige and beige marl, burgundy, dark
turquoise, powder pink. The materials are similar as well. Coats made of
mohair, wool, and polyester, trousers made of cotton and elastane, and jumpers,
t-shirts, tops and dresses made up of these fabrics along with imitation
leather and metallicised fibres. The difference between the two brands,
although they have similar colour schemes and fabrics, H&M uses a lower percentage
of the more expensive and quality fabrics as opposed to COS.
As a result
of decreasing the percentage of higher end fabrics, and mixing them with those
that are of lower quality, the cost of H&M garments are lower than those of
COS standards. Although both brands are classified as “affordable”, H&M
appears to be on the lower end of the scale. T-shirts and Jumpers ranging from £5.99
to £12.99, trousers, skirts, dresses, jackets and coats all under the £60 mark.
COS, somewhat more upscale, ranging between £25 and £115 for a blouse, and the
highest priced coats at £175.
The cost
also factors into the costumer profile, and employee profile. The employees are
all extremely friendly and willing to help. Their “uniform” is either a
selection of COS garments, or plain garments of their choice, as long as no
branding is visible. This shows the employees own fashion sense, while still
keeping the COS aesthetic. H&M on the other hand has no distinctive uniform
for their employees. The shop assistants wear silver nametags, pinned to what
appears to be their every day apparel. The ratio of employees to customers and
shop size is also dissimilar. COS has a large number of employees that are
extremely hard working and motivated. On the contrary, at H&M a minimal number
of employees who wondered aimlessly when on the shop floor. The costumers are partially overlapping,
but mostly, H&M is more accessible and visited by a larger range of
shoppers. Men, Women as well as families and youngsters, seem to shop at
H&M. COS, although having similar ranges of garments, the clothing seems
geared more towards those who are able to pay for higher end fashion and
materials, as well as enjoy more sophisticated and a different perspective of
modern fashion. This also shows in their costumers, as these are mostly between
the ages of 25 and 60.
As a whole,
the shopping experience at COS is very different to that at H&M. I
personally prefer COS’ designs, materials and shop layout. H&M is great for
finding current fashion, however may not last as long as the timelessness of
COS’ garments and accessories.
