Cheap monday

It is quite rare on the market that there is a brand that embodies certain concepts and ideas in all its products. Based in the Swedish capital, Cheap Monday boasts a great combination of low price and strong policy. This is a simple brand loved by all European teenagers, which, despite its popularity, is not a representative of the ordinary mass market.

The Swedish company that produces clothes and accessories for men and women Cheap Monday belongs to the well-known youth brand H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB). The entire assortment of the trademark has a pronounced anti-religious, rebellious orientation, which attracts the teenage audience, inclined to actively express their radical position.

Cheap Monday is designed mainly for informals and adherents of various subcultures, and the affordable price makes the brand's assortment affordable and in demand in these circles.

The history of Cheap Monday began in the early 2000s, when two comrades from Sweden - Adam Friberg and Orjan Andersson - decided to open a modest second-hand store called Weekend on the outskirts of Stockholm. Even despite the fact that their "boutique" was open only on weekends, it quickly gained popularity among the capital's youth. The notoriety that fell on the founders prompted them to establish a larger store in the very center of the city. Since then, multi-brand items, both used and new, from prestigious firms began to appear on the shelves. The store was opened daily and changed its name to Weekday.

Four years later, the founders launched their own brand of jeans that cost even less than what they had previously sold. At the same time, the corporate logo was developed - a skull with an inverted cross on the forehead (a symbol of Satanism) - as well as the first model of skinny stretch denim trousers.The enterprise had an equally overwhelming success, the company became more and more famous.

Let's go back to the logo. The idea belonged to Andersson's friends - Bern Otldax and Karl Grandin... The inverted cross was supposed to personify the negative attitude of the creators to religion, because, according to Oryan, it was Christianity that has always been the cause of all armed conflicts. However, in 2010 it was decided to remove the cross from the logo and replace it with the usual vertical line, however, loyal fans of the brand remember which concept was originally supported by the company.

The success of Cheap Monday in 2005 led to the expansion of the brand's assortment, and, in addition to casual jeans, the company began to produce other clothes that have already become known outside Sweden. Today, stores of this youth brand are open in more than 30 countries, including Russia.

Although the brand did not take root in our country: the Cheap Monday department once opened in a shopping center on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, however, it was closed in 2014 due to low profitability. The company did not manage to win over any of the Petersburg youth: in the Northern capital, it managed to hold out for only about a year.

Since 2009, Ann-Sophie Buck, a true fan of classic Swedish style, has become the chief designer of the company. Thanks to her, the Cheap Monday collections were supplemented with cardigans, sundresses, dresses, T-shirts and even outerwear (coats, jackets). Dark “worn out” colors: black, gray, blue give her clothes a special northern style. Such models are especially distinguished by their practicality.

Cheap Monday clothing is now available in the official online store, the popular multi-brand site Asos.com. Branded boutiques are successfully operating in Paris, London, Copenhagen, Beijing.

As already mentioned, women's and men's jeans are the main focus of Cheap Monday. The brand offers predominantly tapered, cropped and skinny models, as well as trendy jeans with decorated pockets.

In addition, the brand launches its own line of accessories - caps, jewelry, sunglasses, etc.

Cheap Monday clothes are in no way inferior to similar things of other representatives of the mass market, but they do not surpass them either. But, unlike many others, the company does not sin with excessive branding: the logo is usually located on the fittings and is not at all striking, and is closed with a belt on the trousers.

Manufacturers don't pay much attention to detail, using simple yet durable hardware. Now in the Cheap Monday collections, there are both basic wardrobe items (plaid shirts, T-shirts, shorts), as well as bright, extravagant things with a print or original design. The most popular are the clothes of the Gothic or grunge style - rough, but at the same time stylish and extraordinary.

But in general, the brand specializes in a casual style, non-trivial and suitable for every modern teenager, although you can also find non-standard products with asymmetric cutouts or unusual cut.

With the development of the brand, its assortment is regularly replenished with new interesting things, of different original cut. Along with skinny jeans, the company began to produce wide, flared models, as well as ripped ones with a sloppy design. In addition, there were sneakers, pullovers and sweaters, underwear and home sets.

The range cannot boast of any special premium quality: all items are made in China and other Asian countries. But the low price does not imply that, Cheap Monday clothes are quite good for their level. The main material is cotton, often mixed with elastane or viscose. There are also shirts made of 100% cotton, which are quite pleasant to the touch.

All production is done by machine, no manual work. The assortment is quite motley. With the same degree of probability, you can find both a high-quality, good shirt, and a goofy T-shirt with a huge corporate logo on the chest.But, on the other hand, is it worth expecting something incredible from the products of a brand that started as a second-hand?

Consumers disagree strongly about the brand. Some people like the rebellious spirit and style, some are indifferent to it. Some people find things too banal and uninteresting, while others consider clothing design bright and extraordinary. One thing is for sure: Cheap Monday products are unlikely to be suitable for adherents of the classics.

Loyal fans of the brand - teenagers, young people - leave positive feedback on the purchased items. According to many of them, Clothes from Cheap Monday emphasize their young age and allow them to express their individuality... Of course, the main advantage of the brand's products is the low price of its products.

Most buyers are dissatisfied with the mediocre, primitive quality of the clothes. Many are not satisfied with the catchy design. Another drawback of clothing, noted by many, is that it is often small in size, and therefore a thing ordered from an online store is always a pig in a poke.

Having familiarized yourself with a large number of completely opposite reviews, you can generally outline the main pros and cons of Cheap Monday products.

Advantages:

• modernity - Cheap Monday clothing suits the tastes of young people;
• affordability - the middle price category allows you to look stylish without high costs;
• simplicity - the brand specializes mostly in casual wear, simple and interesting at the same time.

Disadvantages:

• far from premium quality - buyers complain about protruding threads and uneven seams;
• secondary - the brand is not much different from other representatives of the mass market, and the produced models and styles can be found in any other youth store;
• inattention to details - fairly cheap fittings are used in production.

But do not scold Cheap Monday for not fully meeting our expectations, sometimes too high. We must make allowances for the fact that the brand was founded by two simple young guys and was initially perceived by them as a kind of hobby, which, thanks to the ambitions of the creators, eventually grew into a rather successful business project that challenged the entire mass culture and religious attitudes.

And although the assortment of the brand does not pretend to be uniqueness and exclusivity, Cheap Monday is still popular among the younger generation. In addition, the philosophy of the brand directly says that a person creates his own unique style and expresses his individuality, and the brand only provides him with the opportunity to choose the necessary things for this. This is an example of a local brand that has grown globally.