The $22.34 billion fashion retailer from Sweden, H&M, has completed 10 years in India, with 66 stores across the country - not just in the metros and tier-one cities but also in several tier 2-3 markets. It has also launched categories such as home and sportswear. It’s most recent foray, which according to Helena Kuylenstierna, Director, H&M India, is its gift to the Indian consumers on completion of a decade in the country, is H&M Beauty. “India is one of the fastest growing beauty markets and the Indian women are the most beautiful in the world, it was an obvious thing for us to do,” she says.

In an interview with Fortune India, Kuylenstierna talks about the road ahead for H&M in India, the organisation’s focus on playing the lead role in making the fashion industry sustainable and much more.

Excerpts:

India as a market is quite different and diverse compared to most of the other countries you are present in. Did you make any tweaks to make yourself relevant to Indian consumers?

We are a global fashion brand and we were not sure how we will be received in India. However, the Indian consumers loved us from the start. As far as tweaks are concerned, that’s what we are working on right now. The consumers out here look to us for the international fashion brand that we are, but we also see opportunities in making it even more fit for the Indian market. We are taking more steps to make it easier to wear in terms of seasonality. We are also adding a lot of local flavours to it. We are waking up to the festive season and this year we will have the biggest Diwali collection we have ever had.

How are you making yourself more relevant to Indian consumers?

Apart from creating lines that will be more suitable for Indian seasons, we are also trying to cater to the Indian consumer’s love for colours. Indian women dress fantastically and I am very inspired by that.

How different is the Indian consumer?

Before I came here, I read a lot of reports about India being value driven market in terms of prices, but I see customers really appreciate fashion and they have the same taste for fashion as its in other parts of the world. We have fantastic entry points like Rs 999, which appeals to the younger customers, but we also have the full range across price-points. When we do our guest design collection (partnered with Sabyasachi and Anamika Khanna) we do elevated things. I have to admit that after coming here and actually being in the market, I realise that the fashion interest is much wider than what some of these reports say.

You have opened stores in several small cities of India. Do you tweak your inventory as per the market you enter?

We have a strategic approach to our expansion into India. Through our online store we are also reaching a very large amount of zip codes. I don’t believe in tiering the cities. I know it is popular here, but we go to markets where the fashion interest is very high, and that is not as different as one what would think. Fashion is a universal language but I love the local aspect of it, how the exact same global collection would look on someone in Europe on the street versus someone in India. Our stronghold is international fashion and western wear. The journey in India as a country is on, and I find it so exciting when I see young women after finishing university going to work for the first time wearing western wear in an international context, of an international brand.

What is the guest design collection? Do you do this across the globe?

We have been curious about India as a market, its craftsmanship, the way the Indians dress, the heritage and culture. The guest designs that we do globally, always have the curiosity of different creative ways of interpreting the world of fashion. That was the reason we partnered with Sabyasachi and Anamika Khanna. We do one guest design collection per year on a global scale. Anamika Khanna’s collection for instance, was shared globally.

The Government of India has recently re-engineered the goods and services tax (GST). The GST for branded apparels below the ₹2,500 price point now attracts just 5% tax. Do you see a boost in sales with the lowering of GST?

We are monitoring the situation carefully and looking into exactly what it will mean for us but we are also trying to focus on the consumer and what we do within our own bracket. We are on a journey of liberating fashion for many, of course the big piece is affordability and accessibility.

Fast fashion brands such as yours are often blamed of not being environment friendly. What are you doing to ensure that you are sustainable and good for the planet?

Sustainability is the backbone of what we do. We are committed to lead the change when it comes to making the fashion industry more circular. If you take material, 89% of the products we make is made from either recyclable or sustainably sourced materials and the ambition is to be 100% by 2030.    

Apart from making sure that you are working with the best materials and best suppliers, we are ambitious about the reused part of it. We don’t have it in India, but in Europe we also sell vintage H&M clothes. I have two daughters who have a large closet of H&M clothes. I recently the gave the clothes they have outgrown to a neighbour. The whole principle that design is made to last, is the essence of how we view sustainability at H&M.

Isn’t sustainability expensive?

We don’t look at it like that; it is such a pillar of what we do. There is no alternative cost for us, we really mean what we say. When we say we want to drive change in the fashion industry, becoming more circular, we see it as an integral part of what we need to manage.