H&M

H&M opened in 1947 in Västerås, Sweden, founded by Erling Persson after a trip to New York where he saw high-volume American department stores stocking affordable ready-to-wear. The shop sold only womenswear and went by Hennes, Swedish for “hers,” pitched at a post-war middle class that wanted trend-led clothing at accessible prices.

By the late 1990s the company had grown into Europe’s largest retail clothing chain, and its model of inexpensive trendy designs produced through a global manufacturing network was widely credited as the blueprint for what the industry would come to call fast fashion.

Menswear entered the range in 1968, when Persson acquired Mauritz Widforss, a Stockholm hunting gear retailer, and folded its stock into the business. The company was renamed Hennes & Mauritz and soon became known as H&M.

The menswear side covers cotton basics, suiting, denim, knitwear, and seasonal outerwear, designed in-house from a Stockholm studio and priced to turn over weekly. That positioning placed H&M alongside Zara, Uniqlo, and Mango as one of the high-street retailers that shaped European menswear from the 2000s onward. The opening of a Fifth Avenue flagship in New York in 2000 marked the brand’s arrival as a global retailer beyond Europe.

Stefan Persson succeeded his father as managing director in 1982, and the company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Under his leadership H&M expanded across North America, the Middle East, and Asia, and in 2004 launched its guest designer collaboration program with Karl Lagerfeld, a model that brought names including Comme des Garçons, Maison Martin Margiela, Lanvin, Versace, and Balmain into its stores at high-street prices.

Karl-Johan Persson, Erling’s grandson, became CEO in 2009 and chairman in 2020, with Helena Helmersson and then Daniel Ervér taking the CEO role through the 2020s. Today H&M operates over 4,300 stores worldwide and dresses the global mass-market menswear shopper, sitting second in scale only to Inditex. Its group portfolio includes COS, Arket, Weekday, and & Other Stories, which extend its reach into elevated and youth segments.