David Beckham splits with H&M

David Beckham has split with fashion retailer H&M – and he’s being upstaged by a Canadian pop star with a hairdo worse than Donald Trump’s…

H&M introduced its first Beckham Bodywear collection featuring form-fitting underwear in 2012 and expanded the partnership to include a broader range of garments including jerseys and light summer suits dubbed Modern Essentials in March 2015. There’s even been a Beckham raincoat.

But now the brand believes it is time for a change. It has signed up Grammy-winning R&B artist Abel Tesfaye, 26, who performs under the deliberately misspelled name The Weeknd, for a one-off menswear collection which will go on sale from March. The chain believes the new signing will appeal to younger shoppers than Beckham, now 41.

According to Bloomberg, H&M said it would not rule out future collaborations with Beckham, who also has partnerships with Hong Kong-based Global Brands, endorses Adidas shoes, Breitling watches and Samsung smartphones.

An H&M spokeswoman told Bloomberg there was no direct link between the end of the Beckham partnership and the signing of Tesfaye.

The singer will choose his favourite items for an H&M collection to be called Spring Icons Selected by The Weeknd.

Queuing for Kenzo

Meanwhile, H&M’s collaboration with fashion label Kenzo launched yesterday, leading to queues outside two stores in Singapore where the collection was on sale – in the Orchard Building and at Ion Orchard.

The Orchard Building store opened at 8am and by 7.30am about 100 people were lined up outside the store. Some at the front of the queue had reportedly arrived on Tuesday morning, presumably holding the place in shifts.