SWEDISH clothes retailer H&M (HMb.ST) has said it had the rights to sell the Justin Bieber merchandise it recently pulled from stores after the popstar said he had not given his approval.

“Justin’s licence holder has confirmed that H&M had the right contracts in place and followed all proper approval procedures for each selected design,” H&M wrote in a statement.

On December 19, Bieber urged his 270 million Instagram followers not to buy the merchandise, calling it “trash” and said it was on sale without his approval. H&M pulled the items from sale.

“Out of respect for Justin, we removed the products from our site and stores, and we’re working to find the best way to make use of them,” H&M said, adding that the company had been Bieber’s merchandise partner since 2016.

H&M, the world’s second biggest fashion retailer, offered hoodies, t-shirts and sweatshirts with pictures of Bieber or quotes from his lyrics such as “I miss you more than life” from the song “Ghost”. (Reuters)