The WSJ and me redux (H&M answers prayers)

For the last week and a half television ads for this H&M trench coat have been tormenting me! Why, you ask? Well, remember the WSJ article I was interviewed for back in May? (Read it here to catch up!). After participating in the interview and reading the article once it published, I had to adjust to the sad fact that the Swedes running things for H&M had a grudge on the Texas climate, taking for granted the fact that to many Texans 50 degrees, while warm in Northern European states, is actually cold and grounds for wearing chunky sweaters and heavy(ish) coats.

H&M had already established locations in American cities with climates I would compare to Texas, i.e. Atlanta and Orlando. I even have a sorority sister from Scottsdale, Arizona who commented on my blog saying that she considers her hometown to have fewer climate fluctuations than Texas, and they’ve had their H&M for a considerable amount of time. And in fact, Scottsdale has two H&Ms. That’s right, there have been retail locations in the desert before the Dallas metropolitan area. And on top of that, if Texans want to shop H&M, the closest locales are in either Las Vegas or St. Louis, MO (e-commerce still has yet to be addressed, but maybe it’s on the horizon *wink,wink/nudge, nudge* ?)

So with all of this weighing on my mind, I was understandably peeved and befuddled that H&M was dangling its product in front of me as I watch some of my favorite television programs. My conversations with friends included comments like “That’s so cruel!!” and “Don’t tease us like that!!”. Well, our prayers (hey, we’re in the Bible Belt, praying is one of our first instincts when it comes to getting what we want) have been answered because earlier this week the Dallas Observer published this article that put our doubts and hopes at bay. The article says that dates for the opening are not set in stone, but will be released once legalities are taken care of (like when they sign the lease on a space),  adding that “It should be really fun” – um, understatement of the year? decade? century? I think so.

I guess I’d like to think I had something to do with this or that Elizabeth Holmes (the WSJ retail reporter who gamely sought me out for interview) and her article made some impact in the H&M corporate decision-making processes that led to the announcement of this highly probably new location. And the people said, Amen!

The WSJ and me

I might just need to pinch myself, and here’s why. Earlier today the Wall Street Journal’s fashion/retail reporter Elizabeth Holmes contacted me about one of my blog posts. In April I wrote a little something up about H&M not being in Texas. Today that blog got me an interview with the WSJ for an article on the subject. I was interviewed along with H&M President Daniel Kulle and Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson. Kinda cool. Here’s the graph with my opinion. I suppose I acted as the voice of the hoi polloi, but I really don’t care, because at the end of the day I was asked to comment for a WSJ article. Link to the full article (for those of you with a WSJ subscription) here.

Meanwhile, some shoppers are growing restless, especially as the company continues its budget-friendly collaborations with high-profile designers. Ashleigh Schmitz, a 21-year-old from Colleyville, Texas, says she admires H&M clothes in magazine spreads. “In Texas, we are dying for an H&M,” she wrote on her blog.

The story breaks some unfortunate news to us fashionable Texans on the verge of a fashiongasm if H&M were to break ground in our sun-friendly state: it’s just too damn hot down here. The article didn’t say it exactly like that, but our lack of any real season change (our two weeks of winter doesn’t really count) is why we have yet to see this product of Sweden. Le sigh.