Weekday to Become H&M Group’s ‘Youth Destination’
H&M Group is betting on Weekday, the Swedish streetwear-inspired brand, to become fashion’s “new youth destination.”
The company announced last week that it is merging Scandi-cool women’s brand, Monki, into the Weekday unit. As part of this change the Monki head office in Gothenburg, Sweden will close, affecting 150 employees. The company said workers “will be supported to apply for a role within the new organization, or to a continued career elsewhere within or outside the wider H&M Group.”
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The head office will be based in Weekday’s current premises in Stockholm and the organizational changes will come into effect during the coming months.
The company said the move will leverage customer synergies, reduce administration and operational costs, and free up resources to develop a stronger offer.
Weekday and Monki will continue to operate as their own “brand experiences” online and in their physical retail stores. As of February, there were 74 Monki stores and 53 Weekday stores worldwide.
Additionally, Cheap Monday will return next year with a small assortment of jeans.
Known for skinny denim and its skull logo, the brand was shut down by H&M Group in 2019 when sales sagged. At the time of its closure, Cheap Monday distributed to around 2,000 stores and sourced from factories in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. It also had a flagship store on London’s Carnaby Street.
All three brands will be under the Weekday umbrella.
“We see great potential with this new youth destination, with the brands Weekday, Monki and Cheap Monday,” said Anna Attemark, H&M Group head of portfolio brands. “Over time we will also explore how to further develop it by including more partners. While looking forward to having the new organization up and running, we remain humble for the changes this entails for some of our employees.”
Jeans are a large part of Weekday’s product offering. The brand uses only organic or recycled cotton in jeans and its washes are measured using Jeanologia’s EIM tool. It has transitioned to recycled polyester zipper tapes and threads. Approximately half of its Spring/Summer 2023 denim assortment is designed for circularity following the Ellen MacArthur’s Jeans Redesign criteria.
Weekday’s genderless Astro Loose Baggy jean was recently named the eighth hottest product in Q1 2023 by The Lyst Index.
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