H&M's M comes from a Stockholm shop that sold hunting clothes
Erling Persson opened his first shop in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947 and named it Hennes, Swedish for hers, because it sold only women's clothing. In 1968 he bought Mauritz Widforss, a Stockholm retailer of hunting gear, gained a menswear range, and renamed the business Hennes & Mauritz. The initials stuck.
Growth was gradual at first. A shop in Norway followed in 1964, a Stockholm Stock Exchange listing in 1974, and in 1976 the first store beyond Scandinavia opened in London. Online sales began in 1998, and on 31 March 2000 a Fifth Avenue store in New York started the push outside Europe. By September 2013 the 3,000th shop had opened, in Chengdu, China. Today the fast-fashion group trades in 75 markets and ranks second among international clothing retailers, behind Inditex.
Its signature marketing trick is the designer collaboration. When Karl Lagerfeld's collection arrived in selected stores in November 2004, crowds were reported and stock in large cities sold out within an hour. A long line of partners followed, from Comme des Garçons, which added a unisex fragrance and children's clothing in 2008, to Versace, Madonna and Balmain. Isabel Marant made men's pieces for the first time in her career for her 2013 range, Alexander Wang became the first American designer involved, and in 2020 Sandra Mansour of Lebanon was the first Arab designer. Wes Anderson even directed a holiday film for the brand in 2016.
The group also runs other labels, including COS, Weekday, Monki and, since 2017, Arket, plus H&M Home, which grew from a 2008 plan to sell furnishings online.
Setbacks have come too. During the COVID-19 pandemic it closed 250 shops and shifted most business online, and in August 2026 rising use of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs in the United States led it and other retailers to trim plus-size ranges.
Source: H&M
