H&M Group: the Swedish fashion retailer and what it sells worldwide

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, known as H&M Group, is a Swedish fashion retailer that sells clothing, shoes, accessories, beauty and home products under several brands, led by the H&M chain. It is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange and runs more than 4,000 stores.

The group matters to the fashion trade because of its size and its model of in-house design with outside production. In its 2025 financial year it reported net sales of about SEK 228 billion and a higher operating profit as it worked to improve margins under chief executive Daniel Ervér.

Overview and Founding

The business began in 1947 when Erling Persson opened a womenswear shop in Västerås, Sweden, called Hennes, the Swedish word for “hers”. A Stockholm store followed in 1952.

In 1968 the company bought Mauritz Widforss, a retailer of hunting equipment, took the name Hennes & Mauritz and added menswear and clothing for kids. International growth started the next year in Norway, followed by Denmark, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The first stores in Germany and the Netherlands opened in the 1980s, and by 1985 the chain had about 200 stores.

Stefan Persson became chief executive in 1982 and later chaired the board from 1998 to 2020. Under him the chain spread across Europe, entered the United States in 2000 and moved from one brand to nine.

Key Milestones

• 1947: The first Hennes store opens in Västerås, Sweden.
• 1968: The company becomes Hennes & Mauritz and adds menswear and clothing for kids.
• 1974: Shares are listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and stores take the H&M name.
• 1998: Online shopping starts in Sweden and the first Paris store opens.
• 2000: The first United States store opens on Fifth Avenue in New York.
• 2004: The first designer collaboration, with Karl Lagerfeld, goes on sale.
• 2007: Stores open in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and COS launches in London.
• 2013: & Other Stories launches and the H&M Foundation is set up.
• 2024: Daniel Ervér becomes chief executive.

What It Does

H&M Group designs most of its collections in-house and buys production from independent suppliers. Its range covers womenswear, menswear, clothing for kids, sportswear, underwear, beauty products and home furnishings.

The brand list today includes H&M, COS, Weekday, which also covers Monki and Cheap Monday, & Other Stories, ARKET, Singular Society and Sellpy, in which H&M raised its holding in 2019. H&M HOME, launched in 2009, sells textiles and interior products.

Sales run through physical stores and online shops. The group sells online in more than 60 markets, having started e-commerce in Sweden in 1998 and passed 50 online markets by 2019. In 2008 it added Weekday, Monki and Cheap Monday by buying FaBric Scandinavien AB, and in 2017 it opened the first ARKET store in London.

The company also reports on the materials it uses. In 2025 it said 80 percent of its commercial product materials were recycled or sustainably sourced, including 32 percent recycled materials. In 2023 it set up Looper Textile Co and issued its first green bond, worth 500 million euros.

It competes with other large fashion groups, among them Inditex, the owner of Zara, built by Amancio Ortega.

For readers in the Kingdom, global chains such as H&M sit within a fashion and retail market that, as our report on Saudi Arabia’s fashion and retail sector shows, is expected to keep growing toward 2029.

In Numbers

• Net sales, financial year 2025 (December 2024 to November 2025): SEK 228,285 million (2024: SEK 234,478 million).
• Operating profit, financial year 2025: SEK 18,395 million, an 8.1 percent margin.
• Employees: about 130,000 (2025).
• Stores: more than 4,000 (2025).

Leadership

H&M Group’s board is chaired by Karl-Johan Persson, who was elected chair in 2020. Daniel Ervér is Chief Executive Officer of H&M Group, a post he took over from Helena Helmersson in 2024.

The board also includes Anders Dahlvig, a former chief executive of IKEA, who has sat on it since 2010.