The company relies on IT integration between the central national office and the production offices. Communication between the various departments takes place electronically, especially in regards to design and product development. This is crucial especially because the fashion giant does not own factories and does not secure fabrics in advance. Instead, its partners secure fabrics on behalf of H&M. With an efficient IT communication infrastructure in place, the company simply has to place an order with one of its partner companies in the region that already have the necessary fabrics.