Fights and Frantic Shoppers as Alexander Wang x H&M Sells Out on First Day
It was just after noon at the H&M behemoth on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and 51st Street, some three hours into the launch of Alexander Wang’s collab with the retailer, and the shelves and garment racks were starting to look a little bare.
Wang obsessives had begun lining up outside the shop on Wednesday night around 9 p.m., and were seemingly undaunted by Thursday’s driving rain. With merchandise dwindling, around 60 people snaked through H&M’s lobby level this afternoon and were admitted for 15 minute shopping windows. Four security guys enforced the policy. A sales associate named Paul sassily informed those who were waiting: “We’re not re-stocking. Like, ever.”
Inside the cordoned off corner of the store devoted to the line, there was a growing sense of urgency, with the stock of outerwear down to just six women’s down jackets (valued at $299 a pop). “There’s not much left,” said one shopper as she leafed through a stack of $34.95 black towels and $12.95 water bottles. Another wondered if the down coat made her look like “a badass astronaut” before deciding on a $199 cropped anorak.
According to salesperson Marie Diaz, the morning had been crazy, with the store opening at 8 a.m. (an hour earlier than usual) to accommodate the launch (Diaz herself had been there since 5.) The most popular items were sold out by 10. Those included the leggings and crop top previewed by Rihanna this past September, and a shirt emblazoned with the Wang’s name. “I don’t think the rain really stopped people from coming out,” said Diaz. “It’s been crazy busy, but it’s gone pretty smoothly here. I mean, there was a fight at the 34th street store.”
Sammy Acevedo, who just got off his shift at the nearby Ugg Australia, stopped by to check out the wares and got in line at 1 p.m. “I was hoping for a basic T-shirt, or maybe some of the boxing gloves,” he said, since he’d recently gotten into boxing and loved the idea of workout gear by Wang. Acevedo seemed level-headed about the fact that he might have already missed out on some of the prime pieces. “It’s okay [if I don’t get some],” he said. “I’ve got my priorities straight.”
Next to him, Bri Davis’s phone was buzzing away with rapid fire texts from a friend at the Soho store. “They’re apparently all out of the sweatshirt I wanted here so I’m asking her if they have any down there,” she said, brow furrowed. Asked if she had been as excited for previous H&M collabs (with the likes of Isabel Marant or Sonia Rykiel), Davis said, emphatically, “No, I’m just here for the Alexander Wang.”
