A mother and daughter are suing fashion giant H&M, claiming the store failed to catch a man who was filming women trying on lingerie.

Zia Ziprin, 51, and her daughter Aishling Labat, 23, were trying on lingerie at the company's Fifth Avenue location in Manhattan in 2010 when a man in an adjoining stall filmed them "with a camera or video camera," The New York Post reported Wednesday, citing a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

From the Post:

As Labat was changing into a negligee, “she saw there was something above the dressing room. She thought it was a security camera but when she reached up, there was nothing there,” her attorney, Ross Rothenberg told The Post. “She started screaming, and he ran from the second story down to the first” and escaped, the lawyer said.

The mother-daughter duo claim they "pleaded with H&M's security and store personnel" to detain the Peeping Tom. However, he was able to leave the store with the video camera, the women say.

The women are seeking unspecified damages, claiming they suffered embarrassment, fear, and panic, according to the Post.

Ziprin, a fashion entrepreneur herself, owns Girls Love Shoes, a vintage shoe store in Manhattan, according to her LinkedIn page.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, but Business Insider could not access the complaint because it had been sealed.

H&M spokeswoman Marybeth Schmitt told Business Insider the company has not yet been served with the lawsuit but doesn't typically comment on legal matters.

DON'T MISS: 'Rocky' Star Reportedly Shelled Out Big Bucks To Settle Half-Sister's Abuse Allegations >

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Oscar-nominated actress Helen Hunt chose to wear an eco-friendly gown created by high-street favourite H&M to last night's ceremony, eschewing high-end couturiers.

For us, the Oscars are all about the dreamy gowns created in the salons of the world’s finest couture houses.

The fact that they are completely out of our fiscal and physical reach makes them all the more magical - after all, knowing we will probably never touch, let alone wear or own, a made-to-measure gown by the likes of Valentino or Dior, is what makes us want them more.

IN PICTURES: Oscars 2013 red carpet hits and misses

It was rather a surprise, then, to hear one of our favourite high street chains mentioned in the same breath as Prada and Oscar de la Renta as the stars paraded themselves for the waiting press prior to last night’s ceremony. It was even more of a surprise when that high street brand was H&M and not the more likely J.Crew or Topshop.

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It was all courtesy of Helen Hunt who told American cheeseball Ryan Seacrest that she had chosen the brand over its pricier counterparts "because it was the most beautiful dress I tried on and they partner with Global Green. It was a win-win-win." (Global Green is H&M’s unique garment recycling initiative which was launched earlier this week.)

The midnight blue silk satin, strapless dress was accessorised with $700,000 of Martin Katz jewels, because lets be honest an H&M bangle stack would just have been a step too far in the attainability stakes. It’s not the first time H&M have made it onto the red carpet though – Michelle Williams sported a custom-made gown by the Swedish giant to last year’s BAFTAs.

But before you run out to the nearest H&M thinking you can grab a piece of sartorial Oscars history, unfortunately Hunt’s dress was custom-made and won’t be available in stores. However, from April 4, H&M will be selling dresses in a “similar style” as part of their Conscious collection.

IN PICTURES: The 25 best Oscars dresses of all time

Hunt wasn’t alone in her championing of all things green, British actress and Bond Girl Naomie Harris climbed aboard the eco bus too. The 36-year-old wore a custom-made gown by the brilliantly named Michael Badger, a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design who was reportedly mentored by Vivienne Westwood throughout the design process. Harris tweeted last night that the mustard-coloured gown, which was created in collaboration with Greenpeace, “took 120 hours to make, dyed with camomile and golden rod, hand embroidered with vintage beads and chocolate wrappers!”

Despite starting to sound a little Lady Gaga (“Tears of Belladonna, crushed heart of tiger orchidea, with a black veil of incense, pulverized apricot, and the combinative essences of saffron and honey drops…”), we applaud Naomie’s championing of both sustainable fashion and a young, promising designer - and maybe next Christmas we'll use all those Quality Street wrappers to make an Oscars-worthy gown too.

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H&M has a major presence in the U.S. market, but now that the brand is firmly embedded in the minds of Americans, it's about to crank things up, Sharon Edelson at Women's Wear Daily reported.

“We’ve established a strong brand,” said Daniel Kulle, U.S. president of H&M, told Women's Wear Daily. “Now we can see that we can grow and expand in many markets in the U.S. There’s huge potential at the moment.”

Right now, the Swedish fast fashion retailer has 269 stores in the U.S., but Kulle didn't tell WWD a target number for future growth. It opened 40 new stores last year and expects an even bigger number in 2013.

“This is just the beginning,” Kulle told WWD.

That's not all. Kulle said that H&M's sister brands, like & Other Stories and Cos, have big potential in the U.S. as well. Cos, in particular, is "for sure" coming to America.

H&M will be launching an e-commerce site this summer too. The initiative has been pushed back three times, but it looks like it's finally going to happen.

SEE ALSO: The Future Of Retail [SLIDE DECK] >

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The rumors are true: singer Beyoncé Knowles is starring in H&M's summer 2013 ad campaign, H&M confirmed in a tweet this morning. The campaign will feature luxurious beach photos from some shoots in the Bahamas, and a TV commercial for the fast-fashion company.

"It felt more like making a video than a commercial,"Knowles told The Telegraph. As its soundtrack, the video will debut a new Beyoncé song, Standing On The Sun.

Beyoncé helped to design the new collection. She said that she has "always liked H&M's focus on fun and affordable fashion," and that the summer line would "explore the different emotions of women represented by the four elements - fire, water, earth and wind." H&M will introduce the singer as "Mrs. Carter" in reference to her upcoming world tour.

Rumors emerged in January when Beyoncé posted a photo of herself in a bikini with her daughter, Blue Ivy, around the same time one of her dancers tweeted about rehearsing for H&M in the Bahamas (the tweet was deleted).

The Swedish retailer's partnership with the Hottest Woman of the 21st Century comes with news of a "difficult" first quarter for the company (net profits are down 10 percent). CEO Karl-Johan Persson blamed the "challenging situation" on bad weather and a tough economic climate.

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H&M has chosen Beyoncé to front their latest Summer campaign full of bikinis and beach frocks.

In a 90-second video entitled "Beyonce as Mrs. Carter in H&M" directed by Jonas Akerlund, the singer whips her hair back as she sings her latest song "Standing on the Sun.”

H&M has described the campaign as “an epic fantasy, with glamour, drama and also a sense of humor.” 

B, for her part, has said “I’ve always liked H&M’s focus on fun and affordable fashion. I really loved the concept we collaborated on to explore the different emotions of women represented by the four elements — fire, water, earth and wind.”

“It was a beautiful shoot on a tropical island,” said Beyonce. “It felt more like making a video than a commercial.” Watch below:

SEE ALSO: Listen To Lana Del Rey's Tragic New Song From "The Great Gatsby" Soundtrack >

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H&M decided to use plus-sized model Jennie Runk to be the face and body of its new beachwear collection.

Click here for more photos>

But what makes H&M's decision so laudable is how casually it handled breaking fashion norms. There was no press release or loud declaration on its website.

It just so happened that when consumers clicked on the "new beachwear" section on the retailer's website home page, they were greeted by images of a six foot tall woman with curvy proportions you're more likely to see in a normal setting rather than on a runway.

"Models whose bodies differ from the straight-size standard should be visible in fashion, outside of the stigmatizing magazine "Size" issues and the dedicated "Plus" categories, which retailers always seem to bury,"Jezebel's Jenna Sauers wrote. "Why shouldn't Jennie Runk, and other women like her, get [to] be on the homepage, too?"

This quiet integration seems to be H&M's style. 

The Swedish retailer began using mannequins with size 12 bodies in its lingerie departments in March. But even though H&M did so quietly, critics loudly complained once they noticed the figures, saying that the company was promoting obesity.

Although looking at Runk's photos, she looks anything but unhealthy, which only emphasizes the bizarre norms that the fashion industry has created.

Consumers visiting H&M's homepage were greeted with this invitation to click through its new beachwear collection.

At first it was hard to tell that Jennie Runk wasn't your "typical" model.

She has curves like most average, healthy looking women.

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Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitchdoesn't stock XL or XXL sizes in women's clothing because they don't want overweight women wearing their brand. 

They want the "cool kids," and they don't consider plus-sized women as being a part of that group. 

Abercrombie is sticking to its guns of conventional beauty, even as that standard becomes outdated. 

Contrast Abercrombie with H&M, another favorite with the teen set, who just subtly introduced a plus-sized model in its latest swimwear collection. 

H&M has a plus-sized line. American Eagle, Abercrombie's biggest competitor, offers up to size XXL for men and women. 

Abercrombie doesn't even list women's XL or XXL on its size chart. Its largest women's pants are a size 10, while H&M's standard line goes up to a size 16, and American Eagle offers up to 18. 

It's not surprising that Abercrombie excludes plus-sized women considering the attitude of CEO Mike Jeffries, said Robin Lewis, co-author of The New Rules of Retail and CEO of newsletter The Robin Report.

"He doesn't want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people," Lewis told Business Insider. "He doesn't want his core customers to see people who aren't as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they're one of the 'cool kids.'" 

The only reason Abercrombie offers XL and XXL men's sizes is probably to appeal to beefy football players and wrestlers, Lewis said. 

We asked the company why it doesn't offer larger sizes for women. A spokeswoman told us that Abercrombie wasn't available to provide a comment. 

In a 2006 interview with Salon, Jeffries himself said that his business was built around sex appeal. 

“It’s almost everything. That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that,” Jeffries said. 

Jeffries also told Salon that he wasn't bothered by excluding some customers. 

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

Jeffries said he thinks that including everyone would make his business boring. 

"Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either," he told Salon. 

While a specialty retailer like Abercrombie can't be expected to appeal to everyone, the brand's standard of beauty is quickly becoming stale. 

Plus-sized is no longer a niche market: 67 percent of the apparel purchasing population fit that label, and the number is growing all the time. 

For too long, this sizable and growing segment has been ignored," writes Margaret Bogenrief at ACM Partners. "Treated shabbily, ostracized by the “pro-skinny fashion world,” and seemingly discarded by designers, department stores, and retailers alike, plus-size fashion consumers, critics, and bloggers are taking back their spending and sartorial power and, in turn, changing both the e-commerce and retailing landscapes."

Ignoring this "revolution" could be costly for businesses, Bogenrief writes. 

More brands are featuring curvy, "real-sized," models. 

In addition to H&M's Jennie Runk, Dove's wildly popular "Real Beauty" campaign highlights women who aren't as thin as traditional models.

But it's unlikely that Abercrombie will ever sway from its image, Lewis told us.  

"Abercrombie is only interested in people with washboard stomachs who look like they're about to jump on a surfboard," Lewis said. 

SEE ALSO: H&M Subtly Used A Plus-Sized Model For Its Swimsuit Collection >

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H&M recently featured plus-size model Jennie Runk wearing the new swimsuit collection on its homepage, seamlessly integrating her with other, rail-thin models.

While plus-size models have appeared in fashion shoots and spreads for years, it is often done in a very loud, "we're sending a message," way.

On the June 2011 issue of Vogue Italia, for instance, the models only made the cover when posed seductively (and symbolically) next to big bowls of pasta. American Apparel's "Next Big Thing" plus-size model contest was a testament to the flippant puns often associated with, as the retailer put it, "booty-ful" models with "full-size fannies."

But that appears to be changing, led by brands like H&M, which is currently featuring the also-voluptuous Beyoncé on its homepage.

The normalization of more substantial bodies would represent a big shift in the fashion world. Although the industry has always claimed to value healthy body types, it has discriminated against plus-size models for a very long time.

The early 20th century has the reputation of embracing curvier women, with the supposed "American Venus" based on Miss America 1926's silhouette measured a thin 34, 26.5, 37.5. That's still rather thin, but it's nothing compared to what would come.

Lane Bryant was one of the first retailers to specialize in plus-size clothing. The "Expectant Mothers and Newborn" line turned into the "For Stout Women" category in 1926. Its mantra? "Calling all chubbies!"

Until the mid-1950's, Lane Bryant used illustrations to market its "stout" line (though even here, the women look slim).

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Apparently, we prefer Beyoncé blonde.

Last week, H&M released two similar new ads to promote its beachwear collection featuring the African American singer. In one of the spots, Beyoncé sports a black string bikini and a waist length platinum blonde hairdo. In the other, she wears a wet, figure-hugging mini-dress, her long locks a rich brunette. She performs the same song in both commercials.

According to a study conducted by AceMetrix, the ad showcasing Beyoncé as a blonde scored significantly higher, with 9% more people referencing the singer by name after seeing the spot.

It appears that Pepsi has already conducted its own research on the likeability of Beyoncé's various hair colors. In a spot that the beverage company released last month, the pop star is unapologetically blonde as she struts her stuff for the soda brand.

Curiously, while the H&M spots scored well with both men and women, the Pepsi ad was mostly favored by women. But then again, Beyoncé wears neither a bikini or wet dress for Pepsi.

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A few days ago, the paparazzi photographed Victoria's Secret model Cara Delevingne dropping a bag of "mysterious white powder" outside her apartment.

Pictures showed the model trying to cover the bag with her shoe and handbag and laughing. 

The incident might have put 20-year-old Delevingne's career in jeopardy. Brands like Victoria's Secret and H&M have used her to market lines for teens, and a drug scandal would tarnish her image. 

H&M also fired spokeswoman Kate Moss for being busted with cocaine in 2005.

The brand was reportedly "investigating" the incident with Delevingne, but never took action. 

Why wasn't Delevingne vilified like Moss? 

Kat Stoeffel at The Cut has some ideas. 

First, Delevingne's snafu occurred the day before the Met Gala. The event was covered by virtually all major news outlets, meaning that the press and public were distracted.

But Delevingne took things a step further to ensure that no one was paying attention to that little bag of white powder. 

She posted an Instagram photo of herself locking lips with actress Sienna Miller:

The sexy image went viral and dominated headlines from the event. 

By Tuesday, no one cared about the white powder incident at all. 

SEE ALSO: Meet The Gorgeous Model Who Could Take Miranda Kerr's Place At Victoria's Secret >

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If you think that the color of Beyoncé's hair in her new H&M campaign is merely an aesthetic choice by the advertiser, think again.

According to a source close to the production of the commercial, Beyoncé doesn't let anyone — not even her sponsors — decide her hairstyles. And she has different hair in every commercial. Each do was the product of Beyoncé herself and her retinue of hair handlers — the client did not have a say in it.

The two ads released so far, "Beach Blues" and "Wet," are part of a series of four commercials the fashion brand is expected to release this year, each representing a different element: earth, water, wind, and fire. Wind and fire are yet to be aired.

Our source told us that her hair was colored to embody the essence of each element and "were discussed to reflect her different Mrs. Carter personae." (Carter is the last name of Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z and is the title she is using for her latest year-long tour, “The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.”

The source also told us that "Beyoncé has her own hair people and the hair choices are entirely hers. No one else has a say, for real. And sometimes it's not great." The source referred to a recent commercial for O2 – a British mobile telecommunications provider – as a case in point (see below).

A recent AceMetrix study we noted earlier revealed that consumers prefer commercials that feature a blonde Beyoncé to brunette. The campaign will show the singer with black hair in two out of the four spots, blonde hair in one and dreadlocks in another.

Here's the O2 ad:

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As the death toll in the Bangladesh factory collapse climbs past 1,000, major retailers that do business in the country are facing calls for accountability.

Deadly factory accidents are relatively common in Bangladesh, where government safety standards are rarely enforced.

Foreign companies met earlier this month to discuss improving worker safety, despite having refused to fund safety improvements for factories just months ago.

Bangladesh has said it will discuss raising the minimum wage from $38-a-month, currently the world's lowest.

The garment industry in Bangladesh accounts for about $20 billion in exports. Of those exports, about 59 percent go to the European Union, 26 percent go to the U.S. and 5 percent go to Canada.

Below is a list of some of the biggest brands that produce merchandise in Bangladesh:

H&M: Bjorn Claeson, senior policy advisor for the International Labor Rights Forum, told Business Insider that H&M is one of Bangladesh's biggest buyers. A section of H&M's website is dedicated to explaining the company's commitment to improving working conditions in Bangladesh, and the company has also posted its code of conduct for suppliers. But Claeson says retailers need to go beyond that. 

He said: "[Brands] have codes of conduct for suppliers they audit, which includes basic safety standards. The problem is that brands are not willing to make anything else but voluntary, non-binding commitments to worker rights and health and safety standards. … They are under no obligation to fix the problems, to make the factories safe or to tell workers of the dangers they face."

Just this week, H&M agreed to a factory safety accord that is legally binding and requires a financial commitment from retailers to improve safety in Bangladesh factories.

Walmart: Claeson names the retail giant as another major buyer in Bangladesh. Walmart has issuedstatements about fire safety in Bangladesh and instituted a "zero tolerance policy for unauthorized subcontracting" to dangerous factories. But the company refused to compensate victims of last year's Tazreen factory fire that killed 112 people. Walmart was among the retailers that met with unions and NGOs last month to discuss improving worker safety.

J.C. Penney: Representatives from the struggling department store were also at the worker safety meeting last month. Joe Fresh clothing that was slated for sale in J.C. Penney stores was found amongst the rubble of the collapsed factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The company that owns Joe Fresh has said it will pay reparations to family members of victims.

Benetton: Some clothing from Benetton was also found in the collapsed Dhaka factory. The company initially denied that the factory was producing clothes for the retailer at the time of the collapse, but recently admitted that one of its direct suppliers had subcontracted orders to New Wave Style, which operated factories in the Dhaka building. Benetton's CEO told The Huffington Post that the company will continue to use factories in Bangladesh.

Gap:ABC News says Gap is "one of the largest American retailers producing clothing in Bangladesh." Claeson also cited the brand as a major player in the country's garment industry. The company will be the target of union protests this weekend in the U.S. Gap recently launched a safety program that provides financial assistance for factories, but the company declined to sign a workers' safety agreement that would have been more binding.

Zara: The parent company of the popular fast-fashion brand also has suppliers in Bangladesh. Inditex, which Bloomberg calls the world's largest clothing retailer, cut ties with two subcontractors in the country after a factory fire that killed seven people in January. The company joined the Bangladesh factory safety accord at the same time as H&M.

SEE ALSO: Fast Fashion Trends Are Helping To Drive Dangerous Conditions At Factories

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It comes as no surprise that the telegenic David Beckham, who just announced his plans for retirement, has appeared in more television commercials than any other player in the history of soccer.

He is buff, athletic, and not a bad actor.

Over the course of his career, the 38-year-old has appeared in spots for major brands like Adidas, Diet Coke, and Emporio Armani (with wife Victoria).

Naturally, many of them went viral. Bubonic plague viral.

The most infectious example is a 90-second epic directed by Guy Richie for H&M. It shows an underpants-clad Beckham in pursuit of a car that had accidentally yanked off his bathrobe as it drove off. 

Check out the ad below to add on to the video's 9.6 million views. And click here if you are interested in the other 65 Beckham videos that went viral.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's Internal Attack Video Against Google Chrome Is 'Leaked' >

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Jennie Runk was volunteering at a PetSmart when the stunningly beautiful woman was spotted by a modeling agent.

There was just one issue.

The 13-year-old was a size 4. She either had to lose weight, the agent said, or gain weight, so she could be marketed as plus-size. Runk chose the latter.

Now 24 and wearing a size 12 or 14, she sent the Internet into seizures earlier this month when major clothing retailer H&M splashed a bikini-clad Runk on its homepage.

She was the face, and body, of its beachwear campaign -- not plus-size beachwear, just beachwear -- thrusting Runk -- suddenly into the limelight as a body image cheerleader and everywoman advocate. 

Runk has taken on the role with relish. She penned an op-ed for the BBC describing her awkward adolescence -- when she had braces, wide-rimmed glasses, thick curly hair and thighs "the size of [other girls'] waists."

More: Overweight Women: Fat Chance Of Getting Ahead

"Having finally survived it, I feel compelled to show girls who are going through the same thing that it's acceptable to be different," Runk wrote. "You will grow out of this awkwardness fabulously."

She expresses frustration at the stigma of plus size (the size of "the average American woman" she points out), and laments the stigma that thin girls endure too, slurred as "gangly and bony."

Runk notably avoids finger-pointing in her public statements, and doesn't express any objection to the plus-size category. ("Clothing companies do this in order to offer their customers exactly what they're looking for," she writes.)

After all, the fashion and media industries are paying Runk's bills. Her enemy is simply body hatred, and a plus-size model just speaking out on the subject qualifies as activism in itself.

Runk's Facebook fan page has quickly built a devoted following, with her uplifting posts on "confidence,""individuality," and "how to be beautiful naked," earning hundreds of likes.

More: 7 Ways You Can Be Fired For Your Appearance -- Legally

Over the past few years, there's been a slowly-growing movement in the fashion and media industries to present more realistic images of women. In 2010, Germany's most popular women's magazine banned professional models from its pages, opting for "ordinary women" instead.

The next year, the United Kingdom banned two ads for L'Oreal cosmetic foundation as being misleading in its use of airbrushing.

Last year, Israel became the first country to pass a law prohibiting the use of underweight models in advertisements, and Vogue magazine pledged to keep unhealthy-seeming models out of its pages. Britain, France, and Norway all considered mandating warning labels on photos that were digitally altered, but faced stiff opposition from advertisers.

Abercrombie & Fitch faced a backlash last week over its refusal to stock clothes in a size 14, which is what the average American woman wears.

A protest erupted outside one of its Chicago stores, and a Los Angeles filmmaker took a more creative stab at the retailer by giving out its clothes to the homeless.

But advocates are still waiting for the revolution. According to Plus magazine, most models walking the runway today meet the body mass index criteria for anorexia.

This post originally appeared on AOL Jobs.

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When Beyoncé heard that H&M's art department were planning to retouch images of her modeling the brand's beachwear collection, she was absolutely furious.

Upon hearing that H&M intended to slim her silhouette, the curvaceous pop star insisted that only un-doctored photographs be released, according to a recent report in The Sun.

It is practically impossible that absolutely no retouching was done on H&M's images, of course. Color, brightness and contrast are routinely adjusted on ad imagery.

A source told The Sun that "'when Beyonce found out they had edited the way her body really looked, she hit the roof. She’s a true diva and was furious that she had been given such a snubbing. Her people refused to give the pictures the green light so H&M were forced to use the originals."

A spokesperson for H&M reached out to the British tabloid confessing that there had indeed been "discussions" regarding Beyoncé's photos for the brand but confirmed that the images that were ultimately published had not been retouched. 

"Both H&M and Beyonce are very happy with the final result,” the H&M spokesman added.

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This morning, Business Insider, among others, noted that Beyoncé insisted that photos of her in this summer's H&M campaign not be retouched in Photoshop. The fashion brand was said to have accommodated the star, apparently only releasing undoctored shots of the singer.

This afternoon, a source close to Beyoncé told us "this is all not true."

In an email to Business Insider, the source said that "Beyoncé objected to being made skinnier at the waist and less curvaceous, but the current ad is still extremely photoshopped."

"She is not objecting to her face, skin and body being made flawless," the source added. "No one looks like that, even her. This is all a ploy to pretend that no photoshop was used. Hilarious."

Take another look at these images. Thinking they has not been digitally perfected in some way is, indeed, pretty naive.

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Zara has outsmarted rival fashion retailer H&M in the road to expansion outside Europe. 

According to Kyle Stock at Businessweek, H&M has focused too narrowly on catering to shoppers in Western Europe. 

Meanwhile, Zara wisely plotted an expansion plan in the fashion-hungry Asian market. 

The retailer is opening 80 to 100 stores in Asia per year, according to Stock. H&M is frantically trying to catch up by building a daunting 350 stores on the continent. 

A Goldman Sachs report also predicted that H&M's hesitance to dive into e-commerce will hurt sales over the next three years. 

Zara's revolutionary, fast supply chain is also helping sales. 

Because Zara makes its clothes in-house, lead times are much shorter than for other apparel brands, according to Stock. 

Zara's strategy involves stocking very little and updating collections often. Instead of other brands that only update once a season, Zara restocks with new designs twice a week, Suzy Hansen at the New York Times reported last year. 

This means that Zara could respond to a chilly spring in Europe by offering more sweaters and jackets. 

Analysts predict it could take years for H&M to catch up to Zara's better planning. 

SEE ALSO: Lululemon Has One Huge Hope For Expansion >

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Fast fashion fans, rejoice: H&M will finally launch e-commerce in August. 

The company revealed in a tweet that U.S. customers will be able to buy products online next month: 

H&M has delayed an e-commerce launch for the past year, reports Tyler McCall at Fashionista. 

Earlier this year, the website had reported false rumors that e-commerce would be off the ground by June.

H&M is a massive retailer known for its ever-rotating selection, so it's not surprising that it's taken so long for e-commerce to get off the ground. 

The company's global head of digital Jordan Nasser recently said the company was struggling "to make something that is both inspiring and shoppable."

SEE ALSO: Check Out The High-Tech 7-Eleven That Just Opened In The Financial District

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Even the world's hottest model isn't immune to H&M's strict policy against narcotics. 

A few months ago, Cara Delevingne dropped what appeared to be a bag of white powder in front of paparazzi. The press buzzed about an alleged cocaine scandal for the British model, who has represented Burberry, Victoria's Secret, Chanel, Zara, and more. 

Delevingne deflected the scandal by posting an Instagram photo of herself kissing actress Sienna Miller at the Met Ball. Soon, no one was talking about her alleged drug use. 

But the dropped powder incident is now catching up to the pretty model. 

H&M recently axed her, supposedly because of its strict, no-drug policy, UK tabloid The Sun reported. 

Even Delevingne's status as the hottest model in fashion couldn't deter H&M, according to The Sun. 

An H&M spokesperson gave a frosty statement to The Sun about Delevingne. 

"She is not a model with us and I think there was a misunderstanding that she was the face of H&M,” the rep said. “We just used her for the show.”

Within the industry, H&M is "famous for their zero tolerance policy towards drugs," writes Hayley Phelan at Fashionista. 

Phelan notes that the brand also dropped Kate Moss at the peak of her career, after she had been photographed  allegedly snorting cocaine. 

While H&M is a huge contract to lose, Delevingne is unlikely to suffer from the snafu. 

"With campaigns out for Fendi, Burberry, DKNY and more, Delevingne‘s career is arguably hotter than ever,"Phelan writes. 

SEE ALSO: Meet The Gorgeous Model Who Could Take Miranda Kerr's Place At Victoria's Secret

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Gisele Bündchen made her millions by modeling and acting. 

In H&M's latest ad she reveals another talent: singing. 

Bündchen belts out her own rendition of The Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night." 

The song will be available on iTunes and on H&M's website, reports Fashionista. Proceeds will go to Unicef. 

Check it out: 

SEE ALSO: How Gisele Went From Awkward Teen To The World's Highest-Paid Model

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