H&M ponders push into standalone menswear stores in the UK

The apparel giant’s UK boss, Carlos Duarte, said London was “almost a paradise for men’s fashion” and said it was “working on” a move to bring menswear stores to the UK.

H&M already has dedicated menswear fascias in its two biggest markets, its native Sweden and in Germany. The UK is its third biggest market.

Duarte told Retail Week: “We are working on it. Not when it comes to product range but how to present it. We could launch [standalone].”

He added: “If you go to Sweden it opened last year. And Germany has actually already had some men’s stores for a few years.

“It’s [been] very successful, so the first steps have been done. We want to do it really good, so tests have been done.”

Duarte refused to be drawn on a launch date or any shop numbers or locations.

H&M is not the only fashion retailer to tap into the growing menswear market by launching dedicated shops.

New Look launched its first standalone menswear stores in the UK a year ago. Retail Week revealed last month that the fast-fashion retailer plans to launch menswear stores in France and China by the end of this year.

Inditex owned Zara has also expanded its UK store portfolio with dedicated mens shops, while Jigsaw has opened several menswear stores in “village” locations around affluent areas of London.

Etailer Boohoo has also entered the fray with a standalone menswear website.