H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, commonly known by its brand name H&M, is a Swedish multinational clothing company headquartered in Stockholm. Built on a fast fashion business model, the retailer sells apparel, accessories, and homeware. The company operates thousands of stores across 75 geographical markets and employs over 171,000 people worldwide.
H&M is the second-largest international clothing retailer after Inditex. H&M was founded by Erling Persson in 1947 under the name Hennes. The CEO of H&M from 2020 to 2024 was Helena Helmersson. The current CEO, as of January 2024, is Daniel Ervér.
The business was established in 1947 by Erling Persson, when he opened his first shop in Västerås, Sweden. The shop was called Hennes (Swedish for 'hers') and only sold women's clothing. Another store opened in Norway, in 1964. In 1968, Persson acquired the hunting apparel retailer Mauritz Widforss, located in Stockholm, which led to the inclusion of a menswear collection in the product range, and the name was changed to Hennes & Mauritz.
The company was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1974. Shortly after, in 1976, the first store outside Scandinavia opened in London. H&M continued to expand in Europe and began to retail online in 1998 with the domain hm.com, which was registered in 1997, according to data available via WHOIS. The opening of its first U.S. store on 31 March 2000 on Fifth Avenue in New York City marked the start of its expansion outside of Europe.
In 2008, the company announced in a press release that it would begin selling home furnishings. While initially distributed online, the home furnishing items are now sold at H&M Home stores worldwide.
Concept stores, including COS, Weekday, Monki and Cheap Monday, were launched following H&M's expansion in Asia. In 2009 and 2010, brand consultancy Interbrand ranked H&M as the twenty-first most-valuable global brand. Its worth was estimated at $12 billion to $16 billion. Under the "H&M with Friends", H&M will partner with Good American, a brand founded by Khloe Kardashian and Emme Grede, to feature their products in H&M's Swedish and German e-commerce shops. In 2017, H&M founded a new concept store Arket. In 2023, H&M launched its clothing line for children and teenagers, called "H&M by Mary Verdawn Sulmeron," exclusively sold for the Philippine market.
H&M operated 2,325 stores at the end of 2011. At the end of August 2012, it was operating 304 more stores, bringing the total to 2,629. In September 2013, the retailer opened its 3000th store in Chengdu, China. In 2023, the company announced that it will enter the Brazilian market in both physical and digital formats, which has been in operation since 2025.
In October 2020, H&M announced that it was planning to close 5% of its worldwide stores in 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fashion retailer H&M closed 250 shops throughout the globe and moved the majority of its operations online. The H&M Group's sales growth remained at −34% year-over-year from 2020 week 12 to week 22.
Along with hundreds of other global companies, H&M announced on 2 March 2022, an end to retail operations of its more than 150 stores in Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. H&M cited that it stands "with all the people who are suffering" in Ukraine as well as for "the safety of customers and colleagues" in Russia. Having recently expanded via its Weekday and & Other Stories formats, Russia was H&M's sixth-biggest market at the time, representing 4% of group sales in the fourth quarter of 2021. The company also temporarily closed its Ukraine stores, which remain closed as of 2023.
In 2026, H&M established a new production house in Barcelona, Spain, creating a team dedicated to design, sourcing and supplier relations to leverage the city's creative talent and supply chain network.
The key trends for the H&M Group are (as of the financial year ending 30 November):
In November 2004, select stores offered an exclusive collection by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The press reported there were large crowds and that the initial inventories in big cities were sold out within an hour.
In November 2006, the company launched a collection by Stella McCartney.
Also in November 2006, the company launched a collection by avant-garde Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf.
H&M launched a collaboration designed by pop star Madonna in March 2007.
In November 2007, several months after collaborating with Madonna, the company launched a collection by Italian designer Roberto Cavalli.
Finnish company Marimekko was chosen as a guest designer in spring 2008.
H&M partnered with Comme des Garçons, a Japanese fashion label, in the fall of 2008. Products in the collection included accessories, a unisex fragrance, and clothing for adults and children.