H&M launches new retail brand Afound
H&M has launched its newest brand Afound with the first two stores set to open later this month.
The move comes after its launch of Arket in autumn 2017, and Nyden in spring of this year. Afound’s concept is the opposite of what Arket and Nyden is and will be a marketplace, selling discounted fashion and lifestyle products, with both external and the H&M group’s own brands. H&M calls it a ‘style and deal-hunting paradise’, that will offer a wide range of well-known, popular brands for both women and men.
Afound will present carefully selected, season-less range from Swedish and international brands in a variety of price segments both online and in physical stores. It will also launch unique, limited product releases from a range of brands, all at attractive prices.
‘We see big potential for Afound and are looking forward to introducing the marketplace to our audience in Sweden in 2018. Afound cares about both the value of the products and the mix. And by offering personal style inspiration, quality labels, and the sense that you’re getting a really good deal, Afound will offer a new form of off-price experience’, said Fredrik Svartling, Managing Director of Afound.
‘The idea was to create an innovative marketplace in the off-price sector with a relevant, curated and inspirational offering for our customers. We have focused strongly on the experience in both the physical and the digital store. Some people might call us an outlet, but our vision is for the customer to experience a style and deal-hunting paradise,’ said Mattias Ekberg, Creative Director of Afound.
The first store will open on June 14 at Drottninggatan 53 in Stockholm while a Malmo store will open on 16 June at Sodergatan 28. In parallel with the opening of the two stores, a digital marketplace www.afound.com will be launched.
‘We are very much looking forward to the imminent opening of our first two stores in Stockholm and Malmo, and our online store. Our team is happy and excited about finally having the chance to introduce our concept which will, we believe, give our customers, a completely new shopping experience in an exciting segment,’ Svartling said of the upcoming openings. ‘We want to make it easy for our customers by being where they are, whether it’s digitally or in selected physical stores, and by offering a range tailored to local demand. We will be offering a large number of attractive brands at really good prices.’
Afound is now the ninth sub-brand of the already wide-ranging H & M group (including Cheap Monday, COS, H & M Home, Monki, & Other Stories). The opening of these two stores is part of a long-term strategy aimed at establishing the label in the majority of Swedish towns, and additional stores will be opening in Gothenburg, Skarholmen and Kristianstad later this year.
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