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Hundreds of beaming shoppers stream into the Pasadena H&M, which opened its doors on Sept. 21

It’s official: H&M is coming to Southern California, one store at a time.

H&M has fascinated me for the longest time. I ask myself, how do they do it again and again, making affordable clothes that are more desirable than most of the expensive ones I find myself wanting? Finally, I got the chance to ask.

The international budget-friendly fashion company opened its first Southern California store for women’s clothes in Pasadena on Sept. 21. They will have two more definite locations, one of which is much closer to UCLA and carries men’s clothes as well – the Beverly Center H&M, which is scheduled to open in November.

At the opening in Pasadena last week, the store was packed. They let in over 800 people in the first two hours, according to Charlie Maier, H&M’s U.S. security manager. People slept outside the night before in anticipation of the event and were provided free water and candy by H&M to sustain them and thank them for their wait.

I wandered around, taking in the whole scene. Wide-eyed shoppers were muttering under their breath, “This is crazy,” as they shuffled forward, sifting through sizes as they went. It’s as if it was a race; whoever shops ’til they drop first, wins.

I asked a girl with a huge bundle of clothes to try on how long she had been waiting in line.

“Forty minutes,” replied Lesly Boayes from Alhambra, California.

In addition to the lengthy time she had waited in line to get into the store in the first place, Boayes had been there since six in the morning.

Is it worth it? I think to myself, it’s totally worth it. But how do they do it? What makes it worth it? That’s what I’m still trying to figure out.

“We are about fashion quality and price and we never give up one for the other,” explained Lisa Sandberge, communications director in the U.S. for H&M. “We really know our fashion, and we know how to design and produce very quickly.”

With sometimes over half a billion units per item produced, H&M remains true to the idea of global fashion. Though stores differ from climate to climate a little, with warmer coats being more popular in colder areas, most of H&M’s stores only differ by about 15% inside, according to Sandberg.

They do, however, receive new shipments every day, so any given day shoppers can potentially find new stuff that wasn’t there the day before. The store is a place that truly works at the speed of fashion itself.

A trend group of about 8 people works out of H&M’s design department in Sweden, consisting of about 100 people total, plus collaborations with designers such as this season’s Viktor and Rolf line, which comes out on Nov. 9. This trend group frequents everything from flea markets to runways, taking authentic inspiration from art, music, pop culture and, of course, vintage and new fashion. They plan out trends about a year in advance.

It makes me feel both flattered and at the same time, perplexed. They decide a year in advance what we’re wearing, based on us? I guess that’s better than deciding for us. Fashion is, though artistic, a business after all.

“We’re in 24 countries, and we look at fashion as a global phenomenon and global customers are out there looking for fashion,” Sandberg said.

I’ll say.

On my way out, I see a woman clutching her huge shopping bag, cradling it as if it were her child. With her other hand, she’s still browsing through clothes as she leaves the store. By the end of my long day, I found myself thinking that fashion-conscious shoppers really are obsessed with clothes.

Or maybe it’s just me.

If you too are fascinated by obsessive shoppers, contact Rood at drood@media.ucla.edu.

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