H&M are the front runners of the fast fashion world so it comes as no surprise that they’ve decided to add a new brand to the H&M name.

The new brand is called Arket, which is a very elegant name. Arket is a completely separate brand from H&M and will not be selling any H&M products. Arket’s only retail store will be located in London and will trade to eighteen European countries. Even though the brand has just launched, Arket is already announcing plans for additional stores in select cities, such as Munich and Brussels.

Lars Axelsson, the marketing director behind Arket, has explained the brand’s reasoning.

“We are starting in London as a global city to reach the world,” said Axelsson. “We are looking into more cities obviously, but our main focus is Europe and we are starting there.”

Unfortunately this telling omission of the Asia Pacific region means that we Australians will have to wait an indefinite period of time before Arket reaches our shores.

The word “arket” translates to “sheet of paper” in Swedish, and it was chosen to represent the company’s clean slate policy. Creative director Ulrika Bernhardtz has high hopes for the brand. Bernhardtz hopes that customers can relate “to our origin in the Nordic tradition of functional, long-lasting design and symbolise the blank sheet, the sense of optimism and possibility we felt creating this new brand.”

Arket will be priced higher than what H&M fashion fans are accustomed to, with a standard price being AUD$73 and will range up to AUD$189.  The decision behind having Arket exclusive clothing as well as other brands of clothing was expanded upon by Bernhardtz.

“We really believe it’s relevant to a modern customer to bring different brands together — under one roof, under one channel — and to make that choice for them and also make it more convenient,” the director said to Business of Fashion.

Arket will join the many brands under the H&M umbrella, including Weekday, Monki, Other Stories and Cheap Monday.