History of H&M

H&M, short for Hennes & Mauritz, was founded in 1947 by Erling Persson in Västerås, Sweden. The company started as "Hennes," a store that sold only women's clothing; the name means "hers" in Swedish. In 1968, Persson purchased Mauritz Widforss, a Stockholm retailer of hunting and fishing equipment. The acquisition brought men's and children's clothing into the business, and the company was renamed Hennes & Mauritz, later shortened to H&M.

H&M opened its first store outside Sweden in Norway in 1964 and expanded steadily across Europe through the following decades. By the 1990s, it had become one of Europe's largest clothing retailers, known for affordable, trend-driven fashion delivered quickly to stores. Its first store in the United States opened on Fifth Avenue in New York in 2000, followed by entries into Asia and the Middle East.

In 2004, H&M launched a collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld that sold out within hours, starting a long-running series of designer partnerships with names such as Stella McCartney, Versace, Balmain, and Moschino. Over the same period, the group built a wider portfolio of brands, including COS, Weekday, Monki, & Other Stories, and H&M Home, allowing it to reach customers across different price points and styles.

As the company grew, it faced increasing criticism over labour conditions in its supply chain and the environmental impact of fast fashion. H&M responded with initiatives such as the Conscious Collection and in-store garment collection programmes. Today, H&M remains one of the world's largest fashion retailers, operating thousands of stores worldwide alongside a major e-commerce business.