H&M

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, commonly known by its brand name H&M, is a Swedish multinational fashion retailer headquartered in Stockholm. Known for its fast fashion business model, H&M sells clothing, accessories, and homeware. The company has a significant global presence, operating thousands of stores across 75 geographical markets and employing over 100,000 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. CEO from 2020 to 2024 was Helena Helmersson. Current CEO is Daniel Erver as of January 2024.
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 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.
H&M operated 2,325 stores at the end of 2011. At the end of August 2012, they were 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, expected to begin operations in 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.
H&M sources its clothing products from various countries globally. The primary manufacturing locations for H&M products are China, Bangladesh, and India. While H&M's headquarters is in Sweden, it operates 21 supplier and factory locations within the country.
The key trends for the H&M Group are (as of the financial year ending 30 November):
Starting in February 2013, H&M began offering patrons a voucher in exchange for used garments. Donated garments were to be processed by I:CO, a retailer that repurposes and recycles used clothing with the goal of creating a zero waste economy. The initiative is similar to an April 2012 clothes-collection voucher program launched by Marks & Spencer in partnership with Oxfam.
In April 2014, H&M joined Zara and other apparel companies in changing their supply chain to avoid endangered forests. The company teamed with Canopy, a nonprofit, to remove endangered and ancient forests from their dissolvable pulp supply chain for their viscose and rayon fabrics.
The H&M Foundation, a nonprofit, was established in 2014 to fund projects that improve humanitarian and environmental issues within the fashion industry. The Persson family, the founders and owners of H&M, originally invested $180 million in the foundation. One of the foundation's projects includes the Green Machine, a recycling technology that would allow clothing to be recycled in a similar way to aluminum can recycling. Since 2013, the family has made contributions to the foundation, donating SEK1.1 billion (US$154 million) to it. According to the OECD, H&M Foundation's financing for 2019 development increased by 7% to US$17 million. In August 2015, the H&M Foundation announced that it will award the Global Change Award, a million-euro annual prize, to advance recycling technology and techniques within the fashion industry.
In September 2019, H&M halted its leather purchases from Brazil in response to the 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires. The company issued an email statement: "The ban will be active until there are credible assurance systems in place to verify that the leather does not contribute to environmental harm in the Amazon." H&M imports only a small fraction of its leather needs from the country.
Actress Maisie Williams joined the brand as a global sustainability ambassador in April 2021. As a global sustainability ambassador, she helped front the company's campaign on using only recycled or sustainably sourced materials by 2030. The first initiative fronted by the actress has led to a collaboration with the video game Animal Crossing, with Williams being transformed into a digital game character to teach the virtues of recycling.
In May 2021, H&M announced a temporary rental clothing service that allows men to rent suits for up to 24 hours for job interviews. It began in the UK and was also being tested in the United States.
In 2024, the company said that about 90% of the down and feathers in its products came from recycled items but that by the end of 2025, none of their items would use virgin down or feathers.
In addition to the H&M brand, the company consists of six individual brands with separate concepts. Brands include Afound, Arket, COS, Monki, Weekday, and & Other Stories.
COS launched its flagship store on London's Regent Street in March 2007 with a catwalk show at the Royal Academy. Its concept is encompassed by minimalist style inspired by architecture, graphics, and design.
It specializes in modern clothing pieces for men and women that are less trend-oriented than other similarly priced labels. COS makes clothing that can be worn beyond the season. COS has 197 stores in 34 countries in Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and the Middle East and currently retails online to 19 markets via cos.com.
2016 saw the hoarding of a new H&M concept in The Dubai Mall come up, labelled now 'H&M Details'.
In August 2011, nearly 300 workers fainted in one week at a Cambodian factory supplying H&M. Fumes from chemicals, poor ventilation, malnutrition, and even "mass hysteria" have all been blamed for making workers ill. The minimum wage in the country is the equivalent of $66 (£42) a month, an amount that is less than half of what is required to meet basic needs, according to human rights groups.
The same year, Bangladeshi and international labor groups put forth a detailed safety proposal that entailed the establishment of independent inspections of garment factories. The plan called for inspectors to have the power to close unsafe factories. The proposal entailed a legally binding contract between suppliers, customers, and unions. At a meeting in 2011 in Dhaka, major European and North American retailers, including H&M, rejected the proposal. Further efforts by unions to advance the proposal after numerous and deadly factory fires have been rejected.
A report by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) found a significant rise in worker abuse allegations in Myanmar garment factories since the military coup in 2021. H&M is investigating 20 such cases at their suppliers, while a report documented 156 in total over the past year. This has led some fashion brands like Inditex (Zara owner) to cut ties with Myanmar suppliers, while others like H&M and Bestseller are increasing monitoring efforts. The decision to stay or leave is complex, with some arguing continued engagement offers leverage for improvement, while others fear a race to the bottom if major brands exit.
The Guardian wrote that in a conscious action sustainability report for 2012, H&M published a list of factories supplying 95% of its garments. This contributes to the trend of corporations leaning toward ethically transparent supply chains.
On 2 January 2013, The Ecologist reported allegations by Anti-Slavery International that H&M was continuing its association with the Uzbek government in exploiting child and adult forced labor as cotton harvesters in Uzbekistan.
In September 2020, amid international allegations over the use of Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang, H&M published a statement saying that it had stopped buying cotton from growers in Xinjiang, stating that it was "deeply concerned by reports from civil society organizations and media that include accusations of forced labor and discrimination of ethno-religious minorities".
In February 2017, The Guardian reported children were employed to make H&M products in Myanmar and were paid 13p (about 15 cents US) an hour – half the full legal minimum wage.
Since then, H&M has become a Fair Labour Association (FLA) member and has set a goal to achieve fair living wages throughout its supply chain by 2030.
In April 2013, the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Bangladesh killing over 1,100 people. Fatalities were mostly garment workers. The incident is considered the deadliest non-deliberate structural failure accident and the deadliest garment factory disaster in modern history. The eight-story building complex that was not designed for factory production and had cracks in the structure that the owners ignored. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the rubble.
The company and other retailers signed on to the Accord on Factory and Building Safety in Bangladesh. In June 2016, SumOfUs launched a campaign to pressure H&M to honor the commitment they made and signed to protect Bangladesh's garment workers. SumOfUs alleged that "H&M is drastically behind schedule in fixing the safety hazards its workers have to face every day."
On 19 May 2013, a textile factory that produced apparel for H&M in Phnom Penh, Cambodia collapsed, injuring several people. The incident has raised concerns regarding industrial safety regulations.
On 25 November 2013, H&M's global head of sustainability committed that H&M, as the world's second-largest clothing retailer, would aim to pay all textile workers "living wage" by 2018, stating that governments are responding too slowly to poor working conditions in Bangladesh among other Asian countries where many clothing retailers source a majority if not all of their garments. Wages were increased in Bangladesh from 3,000 takas ($40) to 5,300 takas ($70) a month in late 2013.
In September 2015, CleanClothes.org, an NGO involved in garment labor working conditions, reported on a lack of specific fire safety renovations in H&M suppliers' factories.
In 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused 82 major brands, including H&M, of being connected to alleged forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang. Specifically the report mentions H&M as a customer of Huafu Top Dyed Melange Yarn Co. Ltd. See also: §Boycotts by China. The evidence adduced was that between April 2017 and June 2018 2,048 Uyghur workers were taken "from Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang to 15 factories in Anhui Province, including [a] Huafu [factory]", and that H&M listed Huafu as a supplier.
On 16 September 2020, H&M said it was ending its relationship with Huafu. It further stated that it had "never had a business relationship with a mill owned by the yarn producer Huafu Fashion Co in Anhui province where workers from XUAR have been employed".
In March 2021, after the EU, UK, US, and Canada's joint sanctions against China over reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, H&M's stance on avoiding forced labor in Xinjiang and claim of not going to use cotton produced there was found and criticized by the Communist Youth League of China on its official Weibo page. Their post stated, "Spreading rumors to boycott Xinjiang cotton, while trying to make a profit in China? Wishful thinking!"
The viral post spread across mainland Chinese social media, leading to H&M facing significant criticism among Chinese social media users. On 24 March 2021, H&M became the first fashion brand to be targeted in China, with its products removed from Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, JD.com and Alibaba, its mobile application removed from Chinese app stores, and rideshare platform DiDi blocking customers from requesting H&M stores as their destinations. Two of H&M's brand ambassadors in China, Huang Xuan and Victoria Song, announced they were no longer collaborating with H&M.
In August 2022, H&M resumed sales in China.
Chinese state media outlet China Global Television Network countered the statements against Xinjiang cotton with a video showing automation in cotton-picking and local Uyghurs claiming that the industry brought high earnings. On 26 March 2021, the United States condemned the China-backed boycotts, with its Department of Commerce stating that the United States "has taken strong actions to stop China from profiting off of its human-rights abuses in Xinjiang and to stop imports of products made with forced labor in China."
On 31 March, H&M responded with a statement vowing to rebuild trust in China and serve its customers in a "respectful way". H&M reported sales in China had fallen by approximately 23% for the second quarter of 2021 (compared to the same period in the last fiscal year). According to a report, more than half a million are forced to pick cotton in Xinjiang.
A proposed class action lawsuit in the US alleged that H&M was greenwashing via the sustainability claims made in its Conscious Choice range. These claims were dismissed. Earlier this year, The Norwegian Consumer Agency (Forbrukertilsynet) said it believed Norrøna is "breaking the law" in marketing clothes as environmentally friendly and issued a warning to H&M GROUP against using the same type of environmental claims.
In March 2022, the H&M Group communicated that they would pause their operations in Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
H&M has operated stores in Israel since March 2010 with its first store in Tel Aviv in partnership with local franchisee Match Retail, a division of Union Group. As of December 2023, H&M operates 24 stores in Israel, predominantly around the region of Gush Dan. H&M does not operate any stores in the occupied areas of East Jerusalem or the West Bank.
However, since opening in Israel, the Palestinian branch of BDS has campaigned for boycott of fashion chain, demanding that they pull out of the country. H&M's continuing presence in Israel has led to protests in various stores in Europe, especially since the invasion of the Gaza Strip. The company initially closed its stores when the invasion started in October, however the company quietly reopened the stores.
In January 2016, H&M initially put out and later pulled a tallit-like beige and dark blue striped scarf in its Israeli stores, after it was accused of being offensive to Jews.
In January 2024, the company was heavily criticized after its Australian branch released a school uniform advertisement with the slogan "Make those heads turn in H&M’s Back to School fashion". Melinda Tankard Reist, an Australian writer, questioned the brand's motives, claiming that young girls just want to be left alone and don't want unwelcome attention. The company removed the advertisement and apologized.