What is & Other Stories made of?

& Other Stories is the brand people reach for when they want to feel like they've graduated from H&M. Higher prices, nicer packaging, a Parisian design atelier. But here's the thing most shoppers don't check: what's actually in the clothes? Because & Other Stories and H&M share more than a parent company.

We looked at the fabric compositions across & Other Stories' categories. The picture is genuinely better than H&M -- but "better than H&M" is a low bar, and the premium you're paying doesn't always land in the fabric.

The H&M Group Connection

Let's get this out of the way. & Other Stories is owned by H&M Group. Same parent company as H&M, COS, Weekday, Monki, and ARKET. The supply chains overlap. The sustainability reports are shared. When H&M Group makes a pledge about recycled materials or circular fashion, that umbrella covers & Other Stories too.

What differs is positioning. & Other Stories sits above H&M but below COS in the group's hierarchy. The price points are roughly 2-4x what you'd pay at H&M for an equivalent category. The question is whether that markup translates into meaningfully different materials, or whether you're mostly paying for the aesthetic.

The answer is: it's complicated. Some categories genuinely deliver better fabrics. Others are H&M-tier materials with a nicer label sewn in.

What & Other Stories Actually Uses

Compared to budget fast fashion, & Other Stories does use a noticeably higher proportion of natural fibres. Cotton, wool, and mulberry silk appear more frequently here than at H&M or Zara. You'll find pieces in 100% cotton, 100% wool, and genuine silk -- things that barely exist in H&M's mainline range.

But look closer and the synthetics are still very much present. Polyester shows up across categories, particularly in dresses, blouses, and anything with structure or lining. Polyamide (nylon) appears in outerwear and hosiery. Viscose and its relatives -- lyocell, modal -- do heavy lifting in the mid-range, positioned as the "good" option but still industrially processed cellulose fibres with varying environmental footprints depending on the producer.

The real story is in the blends. & Other Stories loves a blend. A jumper might be 70% wool, 30% polyamide. A dress might be 65% viscose, 35% polyester. A pair of trousers might be cotton-elastane. These blends are often better than what you'd find at H&M, where that same jumper would be 100% acrylic. But they're rarely the pure natural-fibre garments the branding implies.

Category Breakdown

Here's what to expect across & Other Stories' main categories:

• Knitwear -- This is where & Other Stories genuinely outperforms most high street brands. You'll find wool, alpaca, cashmere, and mohair blends. Not always 100% natural -- polyamide is commonly blended in for durability -- but the primary fibre is often genuinely wool-based. At H&M, the equivalent jumper would be acrylic. At & Other Stories, you're more likely to get real wool. This is where the premium actually shows up in the fabric.
• Dresses -- Mixed results. Some dresses use viscose, linen, or cotton as the primary fibre. Others are straight polyester, especially anything with a "silky" or structured finish. The floral midi dress that looks so Parisian? Check the label. It might be 100% polyester, or it might be viscose-linen. There's no consistent rule -- you have to check each piece.
• Tops & Blouses -- Similar spread. Cotton tees are genuinely cotton. But blouses, especially anything sheer or draped, frequently lean on polyester or viscose. Silk does appear in this category more than anywhere else on the high street, but it's priced accordingly -- expect to pay north of seventy pounds for a silk blouse.
• Denim -- Solid. Like most brands, & Other Stories denim is cotton-dominant, typically 98-100% cotton with a small percentage of elastane for stretch. Organic cotton is used in some styles. This category is reliably natural-fibre.
• Outerwear -- Wool coats are genuinely wool-dominant, often 50-80% wool with polyester or polyamide making up the rest. Synthetic outerwear exists too -- puffer jackets and technical pieces are polyester or recycled polyester. Linings are almost always polyester.

The "Premium" Question

Here's the honest assessment: & Other Stories is genuinely better than H&M on fabric. The presence of real wool, silk, and higher cotton quality across the range is meaningful. You're not being scammed. The fabric does improve when you step up from H&M to & Other Stories.

But it's not a clean break. The same H&M Group supply chain produces both brands. Polyester still appears frequently. Blends are the norm, not the exception. And some pieces -- particularly trend-driven items that rotate quickly -- are indistinguishable in composition from what H&M sells at half the price.

The premium buys you better average fabric quality, better design, and better presentation. It doesn't buy you a fundamentally different approach to materials. If you want to make sure the specific piece you're buying justifies the price, you need to check the composition.

How to Check Before You Buy

& Other Stories does list fabric composition on product pages -- and to their credit, it's usually more visible than on budget fast fashion sites. You'll find it under "Composition" or "Material" in the product details. But when you're browsing dozens of items, clicking into each one to check gets tedious fast.

That's what Fibr is for.

Fibr is a free Chrome extension that reads the fabric composition and displays it as a colour-coded badge directly on the product image. Green for natural fibres. Yellow for mixed. Red for mostly synthetic. You see it while you browse -- no extra clicks, no hunting through product details.

& Other Stories support is coming soon. Fibr currently works on Zara, H&M, and Mango, and we're actively building out support for & Other Stories and more H&M Group brands. When it lands, you'll be able to instantly see which pieces justify the premium and which are H&M-tier polyester at three times the price.

Until then, the manual approach works: click into the product, find "Composition," and read the label. If the lead fibre is wool, cotton, silk, or linen -- you're getting what you're paying for. If it's polyester or viscose -- ask yourself whether the design alone is worth the markup over H&M.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is & Other Stories better quality than H&M?

Generally, yes. & Other Stories uses a higher proportion of natural fibres -- real wool in knitwear, silk in blouses, better cotton in basics. The construction and finishing are also a step up. But it's not a blanket improvement. Some & Other Stories pieces, particularly trend-driven items, use the same polyester and viscose you'd find at H&M. The premium shows up most clearly in knitwear and outerwear; it's least noticeable in dresses and blouses where polyester still dominates. Check the composition on each piece rather than assuming the brand name guarantees better fabric.

What fabrics does & Other Stories use?

A genuine mix of natural and synthetic. Cotton, wool, alpaca, cashmere, silk, and linen all appear in the range -- more so than at most high street brands. But polyester, viscose, polyamide, and elastane are still heavily present, especially in dresses, blouses, and linings. Blends are the norm: a typical & Other Stories jumper might be 70% wool, 30% polyamide. Knitwear and denim are the strongest categories for natural fibres. Dresses and tops are the most inconsistent.

Is & Other Stories sustainable?

& Other Stories is part of H&M Group and falls under their shared sustainability commitments, including targets for recycled and sustainably sourced materials. The brand does use more natural fibres than H&M's mainline, which is a genuine material difference. However, it still relies on polyester and synthetic blends across much of its range, and the fast fashion production model -- frequent new collections, trend-driven turnover -- remains fundamentally the same. It's better than H&M, but "more sustainable than H&M" is not the same as "sustainable."