H&M to Double Japan Stores by 2012

Fast Fashion: H&M will more than double the number of stores in Japan amid exploding demand for budget fashion.

H&M will more than double the number of stores in Japan over the next year on exploding demand from fashion consumers who are increasingly abandoning the extreme status-consciousness of the previous generation.

H&M announced plans to have 30 stores in Japan by the end of 2012 by expanding to Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and other cities in western Japan. H&M’s Swedish parent Hennes & Mauritz (HMb.ST) — the world’s number 2 fashion retailer after Spain’s Zara — currently operates 12 outlets in Japan. Most remain concentrated in the Tokyo area where the first stores opened in 2008.

“Japan is definitely an important market and we still see potential for growth here,” H&M spokeswoman Mie Anton told Reuters. “Japanese customers are very interested in fashion, so there is high consumption in Japan.”

Global “fast fashion” brands have been exploding across Asia since the mid-2000s as consumers have changed their fashion buying habits for larger numbers of inexpensive, trendy pieces in favor of fewer pricey status items, especially in an era when austerity is no longer deemed incompatible with fashion.

Zara already has 67 outlets in Japan while U.S. brands Forever 21 and Abercrombie & Fitch Co have opened high-profile outlets in fashionable Tokyo districts.

H&M has also been competing with Uniqlo and Gap for price-conscious young shoppers in China, the United States and Europe.