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H&M recalls kids clothes after copycat outcry

Swedish clothing giant H&M has pulled a line of children's garments after a small Swedish fashion house complained the outfits had almost exactly the same design as their own.

H&M recalls kids clothes after copycat outcry
Littlephant's design, left, and H&M's, right. Photo: Facebook

Staff members at Swedish clothing line Littlephant noticed on Friday that H&M's newest children's clothing line had a striking resemblance to their own. In fact, some garments were almost exactly the same. Their attempts to reach H&M, however, fell on deaf ears.

"The imitation wasn't flattering, it was horrible," designer Camilla Lundsten told The Local. "It was like being hit in the face."

Unable to get a response from the clothing giant, the team took to social media, posting a side-by-side comparison of a dress and some harlequin-styled trousers with the text: "Don't they have any creativity of their own?"

Within hours, over a thousand people responded on Instagram, and the response was similar on Facebook. 

Unable to reach H&M throughout the whole weekend and into Monday, Lundsten managed to get hold of a private email address to H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson and tried her luck there.

By Wednesday, an H&M spokesperson responded, informing the 41-year-old designer they would be pulling the line. During the night, she got another call with an apology.

"They called me and admitted they made a mistake," she said. 

"We're pleased they've thought about the moral of the issue, and I'm pleased they apologized. It's not fair to copy anyone, especially not a little Swedish company."

Littlephant, which started out two years ago in Sweden and is now in eight markets around the world, is a range of children's clothes and products based on characters in the book Lillefanten, which was penned and illustrated by Lundsten herself. Their official site promises that everything is "designed with a Swedish attitude and quirky expression".

But for now, Lundsten hopes the incident will act as a catalyst for further conversation on imagination and originality.

"We hope that this has started a discussion on creativity, how to use it, and how to be inspired by it," she told The Local. 

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BUSINESS

Swedish retailer H&M sees profits slump after Russia exit

Swedish fashion retailer H&M reportedĀ a sizeable drop in third-quarter profit on Thursday following its decision to leave the Russian market.

Swedish retailer H&M sees profits slump after Russia exit

The world’s number two clothing group is among a slew of Western companies that have exited Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

H&M paused all sales in the country in March and announced in July that it would wind down operations, although it would reopen stores for “a limited period of time” to offload its remaining inventory.

The company said Thursday its net profit fell to 531 million kronor ($47 million) in the third quarter, down 89 percent from the same period last year. “The third quarter has largely been impacted by our decision to pause sales and then wind down the business in Russia,” chief executive Helena Helmersson said in a statement.

The group said in its earnings statement that it would launch cost-cutting measures that would result in savings totalling two billion kronor.

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