Information about H&m

Hennes & Mauritz AB
Company logo
	Public ()
Founded	Västerås, Sweden (1947)
Headquarters	Stockholm, Sweden
Key people	Stefan Persson, Chairman Rolf Eriksen, CEO
Industry	Fashion
Products	Clothing, cosmetics
Revenue	61.262,2 million SEK (2005)
Website	www.hm.com

Hennes & Mauritz AB (operating as H&M), is a Swedish clothing company, known for their inexpensive and fashionable clothing offerings. It was established in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947 by Erling Persson, though at the time it only sold women's clothing and was called Hennes, Swedish for "hers." In 1968, Persson acquired the premises and inventory of a Stockholm hunting equipment store named Mauritz Widforss. Included in the inventory was a supply of men's clothing, prompting Persson to expand into menswear. Accordingly, he renamed the store Hennes & Mauritz, later abbreviated to H&M. H&M has more than 1400 stores in 28 different countries and has more than 60,000 employees. Stefan Persson, Erling's son, became CEO in 1990 and Chairman of the Board in 1998.

Though its price point is in the discount fashion range, H&M markets its brand also to high-end fashion consumers, both through ads in fashion magazines and the placement of stores in areas more typically associated with more expensive designer stores. In November 2004, selected H&M stores offered an exclusive collection by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The press reported large crowds and that the initial inventories in the larger cities were sold out within an hour^[1], although clothes were still available in less fashion-sensitive areas until the company redistributed them to meet with demand^[2]. In November 2005, the chain launched a collection by Stella McCartney and, in November 2006, by avant-garde Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf. H&M launched another collaboration with Madonna in March 2007, designed by the star^[3], and in 2007, another design with Kylie Minogue was launched in Shanghai, China^[4].

H&M in North America

Canada

H&M opened its first Canadian store at Toronto's Fairview Mall in March 2004. Following great success, more stores were opened in Toronto, including the Toronto Eaton Centre flagship store and others in the Greater Toronto Area. In 2006 the first Quebec locations were opened, in the Montreal area. Today there are 29 stores in Canada, located within the provinces of Ontario (19 stores), Quebec (8 stores), and, most recently, Alberta (2 stores). Expansion into Western Canada started in 2007 with two stores in Alberta (West Edmonton Mall opened April 12, 2007) and Calgary (Market Mall opened May 10th, 2007). The first store in Greater Vancouver is now open in Coquitlam Centre, Coquitlam, as of August 23, 2007. A first store opened in the Quebec City region on September 6th, 2007. A second one will open October 18, 2007.

United States

H&M opened its first US store in New York on 5th Ave and 51st Street in March 2000. There are now several additional stores in the city. Massachusetts has five stores, including the second largest in the country at Downtown Crossing, as well as one at Newbury Street and Cambridgeside Galleria. H&M also operates four stores in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. area. There are three H&M stores in Chicago- one on Michigan Avenue, one on Milwaukee Ave in Wicker Park, and one on State Street. The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, is home to another. Since the fall of 2006, H&M has opened three stores in St. Louis at the St. Louis Galleria, Westfield West County, and Westfield Chesterfield. A new store is set to open on November 1, 2007 at the Stamford Town Center mall in Stamford, CT.

The first two H&M stores to appear on the West Coast of the United States opened in San Francisco, California, on November 19, 2005. Later, H&M opened another, having three stores in the vicinity of about 4 square blocks—and subsequently yet a fourth elsewhere in the city. In 2006 and 2007, H&M opened new stores in several suburbs.

The first Southern California store opened on September 21, 2006, in Pasadena, offering only the women's line. A second store opened in 2006 and other southern California locations are anticipated to open in 2007 ^{[5] [6]}. Stores elsewhere in California ^[7] and Arizona have also been mentioned, but have not been confirmed. H&M recently opened a store in the Westfield Topanga mall in California in July 2007. H&M has confirmed a 2008 opening in Atlanta. As of December 2006, H&M operates stores in 18 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Two H&M stores will soon be opening in Riverside & Las Vegas. With the Riverside H&M opening October 18th 2007 at the Galleria at Tyler and the Las Vegas H&M at the Miracle Mile Shops in the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino by Fall 2007.

H&M in Asia

H&M opened, in September 6, 2006, a store in Dubai's Mall of Emirates. Other stores are now open in that country, and also in Kuwait. ^[8] A franchise agreement with popular Kuwaiti retailer Mohammed H. Alshaya, which already managed other stores such as The Body Shop secured the expansion. Plans for 14 additional stores are being made in other Middle-Eastern countries.^[9] On March 7, 2007, the first store opened in Qatar. H&M expanded into East Asia in March 2007, with its first store opening in Hong Kong on the 10 March 2007. The H&M store in Hong Kong has 4 stories including a basement, ground floor, first floor and second floor. It is one of the biggest clothes shops in Hong Kong next to Lane Crawford. Three additional new stores will also open at Festival Walk (end of September 07), Kowloon Station (October 07) and Langham Place (November 07). Kylie Minogue opened the first store in Asia, where she also exclusively launched her range of swimwear.

In addition, two Shanghai stores opened in early 2007. The first H&M store in Japan is set to open in Harajuku and Ginza Tokyo in the autumn of 2008.^[10]

H&M in Australia

It has been proposed, but not yet confirmed, that H&M may open stores in Melbourne, and Sydney, supposedly in 2008. Also, in April of 2007, Pop superstar Kylie Minogue has teamed up with H&M to introduce a swimwear line called, “H&M loves Kylie”, featuring a theme of Australia. “When we think of Australia and glamour, we think Kylie, who is such a stylish person,” H&M design head Margareta van den Bosch said in a statement.<ref name="enjoy-minogue" />

The first Australian H&M Store will open its doors in Sydney in February 2008.

H&M and EA

H&M partnered with EA to create a one-of-a-kind virtual fashion runway - Participants create outfits using H&M fashion elements and then submit them to Electronic Arts' Sims division. From there, the best outfits are chosen and displayed on a page Yahoo! has built for the purpose of displaying the runway shows and enabling visitors to vote for their favorite submitted fashion. H&M will be actually manufacturing at least one outfit submitted through the promotion to be sold in their stores worldwide. (link at bottom of page.)

Trivia

• In 1986, H&M (as H&M Hennes Fashion Stores) sponsored the Mercury Records new artist sampler "Beat Runs Wild - 9 Tracks, 9 Cats, 9 Lives" which showcased new bands such as Wet Wet Wet and Swing Out Sister.
• Maxis, creator of The Sims 2, has released a stuff pack based on H&M clothing and architecture, called The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff. It was released on June 5, 2007.

Controversy

In late September, 2007, Asian American Institute filed a discrimination complaint with the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, seeking redress for Frannie Richards, a Filipino American nurse who suffered anti-Asian and sex-based harassment at the Magnificent Mile H&M department store. The harassment included "mail-order bride" comments, ridicule concerning Ms. Richards' ability to understand English, as well as mocking "ching, ching, chang" noises by an H&M employee. ^{[11] [12]}

See also

• List of Swedish companies
• European Retail Round Table

References

• H&M Sims Fashion Runway Site

External links

• Hennes & Mauritz
• Yahoo! - H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB Company Profile

•  • [ e] OMX Stockholm 30 companies of Sweden
ABB Alfa Laval Assa Abloy AstraZeneca Atlas Copco Autoliv Boliden Electrolux Eniro Ericsson Hennes & Mauritz Investor AB Nokia Nordea Sandvik SCA Scania SEB Securitas Skanska SKF SSAB Svenska Handelsbanken Swedbank Swedish Match Tele2 TeliaSonera Volvo Vostok Gas