Welcome to the world of H&M, where fashion meets affordability in a whirlwind of style!
From its humble beginnings in Sweden to its global domination, H&M has a fascinating history packed with intriguing facts you won’t want to miss.
Join us as we explore all the juicy details about H&M, uncovering everything from celebrity collaborations to sustainability initiatives that make this fast-fashion giant truly unique.
H&M was founded by Erling Persson in 1947 in Västerås, Sweden, under the name “Hennes” (“Hers” in English). At its founding, it focused on selling women’s clothes.
H&M started its journey toward becoming a global brand when it opened its first international store in Norway in 1964.
In 1968, Persson decided to venture into another business, buying a hunting and fishing apparel store called Mauritz Widforss. He then merged both businesses, naming the brand “Hennes & Mauritz.”
o decades after hiring ABBA’s star, H&M made another historical achievement in celebrity endorsements by bringing in the Big Six , the most famous supermodels of the 1990s!
During the 2022 Met Gala, Spiderman: Homecoming’s Laura Harrier wore a custom dress made by H&M – a stunning dark gray metallic dress with a built-in corset.
In 2012, H&M marketed David Beckham’s underwear collection creatively, placing humongous shopping bags at different places across London, such as Tower Bridge, Covent Garden, and Victoria Station.
New York’s flagship H&M store on Herald Square is the largest H&M store in the world. The 63,000-square-foot (5,853 square meters) behemoth occupies four floors, and its exterior is wrapped in LCD displays.
Wes Anderson wrote and directed Come Together, a short Christmas-themed film as a commercial for H&M in 2016. Its central theme revolves around finding joy with others despite trying times, emphasizing the spirit of fortitude during the holiday season (and advertising clothes, of course).
By 2022, H&M had a whopping 4,465 stores worldwide! The US alone is home to five hundred and twenty of them.
Speaking of the United States, it’s one of H&M’s biggest markets in terms of net sales, totaling 33.4 billion Swedish krona (or around 3.2 million USD) in 2022.
H&M’s first fashion designer collaboration was with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004. Although the Lagerfeld silhouette shirts, sequin jackets, and lace dresses were the three best-sellers, the whole collection was so popular that most stock was sold on the first day!
H&M ranks as the world’s second-largest clothing retailer behind Inditex, the owner of Zara.
The clothing company owns numerous other clothing brands, too, such as COS, Weekday, Monki, & Other Stories, Arket, and Afound.
H&M expanded its offerings in 2009 by entering the furniture market and introducing H&M Home.
In 1974, H&M was publicly listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. This was also the year when the company decided to officially rebrand under the abbreviation “H&M.”