H&M

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈhoː.ˈɛm; ˈhɛnːˈɛs ɔ ˈma.ʊrɪts]; H&M) is a Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children.

H&M exists in 61 countries with over 3,700 stores and as of 2015 employed around 132,000 people. The first store was opened on the high street of Västerås, Sweden in 1947. It had 2,325 stores at the end of 2011, 2,629 stores at the end of August 2012 and opened its 3,000th store in September 2013 in Chengdu, China. It is ranked the second largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of Zara), and leads over the third largest global clothing retailer, United States based Gap Inc.

History

In 1946 the company's founder Erling Persson came up with the business idea of offering fashionable clothing at attractive prices. In 1947 he opened his first shop Västerås, Sweden "Hennes", which exclusively sold women's clothing. "Hennes" is Swedish and means "hers". In 1968 Persson acquired the hunting apparel retailer Mauritz Widforss, which led to the inclusion of a menswear collection in the product range and the name change to "Hennes & Mauritz" (H&M).