H&M Group recruits Christopher Wylie
H&M group has signed a consultancy contract with Christopher Wylie. Wylie has a background in advanced data analytics, developed through a career first in fashion trends and more recently in politics. The 29-year-old will advise as a Research Director, and help H&M group improve its customer, product and market insights.
Why did you choose to work with H&M group?
“What’s unique about H&M group is their internal culture on genuinely caring about sustainability and wanting people to feel good about what they wear. In every conversation I had with them, sustainability kept coming up, although that wasn’t on the agenda for the meeting. It became clear to me that one of the things they strive for is to become a better corporate citizen. This was very appealing to me.”
What more specifically will you be doing for H&M group?
“I will be working within the new insights team for H&M group, exploring ways we can leverage research and data to meet the company’s mission of helping people look and feel good in a sustainable way. So, for example, this may involve taking a fresh look at our product sizing and the diverse body shapes of people around the world. Or looking at how we can better link up customer demands with our supply chain to reduce the overstock, which not only will be good for business, but also reduce our carbon footprint.”
You aren’t new to fashion, having previously studied fashion trends and forecasting. What is it that excites you about the impact fashion has on society?
“We need to understand how people engage with clothing because you can almost have a greater impact with fashion than what you can with politics. Clothes are powerful. They mean something to people. Fashion affect people.”
How is new technology and data changing business for the better?
“Everybody wants to look and feel good. That’s a great mission for H&M to have. But we can´t help people if we don´t know who they are. With the use of data, we can make sure our customers get what they want. Does it fit well? Will the product last? With the customer-first approach, we can make clothes that our customers love. That way we will also be better at matching demand and supply, improving not only our environmental footprint, but also increasing the company’s profitability.”
What will you start with?
“One of the first steps is tapping in to store staff. They meet the customers every day, they walk the streets of the customers, they know the customers best and what they are asking for. How can we collect all this knowledge, and turn that into value for customers? Again, it’s about the H&M approach of figuring out what makes our customers feel good, while reducing the impact on the environment.”