What does H&M mean? The story behind the Swedish fashion empire

In Västerås, an old industrial city located on the shores of Lake Mälaren, about a hundred kilometers from Stockholm, winters are long. The cold clings to the streets, the sky darkens early, and the lake water further accentuates the feeling of living in a gray environment. At first glance, this corner of central Sweden has very little in common with cities like Paris, Milan, or London. However, against all odds, it also occupies its own place on the global fashion map: it is the birthplace of H&M, a colossus with 4,100 stores, a presence in 81 countries, and around 132,000 employees, which in 2025 had a turnover of approximately 20 billion euros.But where did H&M come from? First, we need to clarify what these two letters hide. They are the abbreviation for Hennes & Mauritz. Hennes was the name of the first store Erling Persson opened in 1947 in Västerås, dedicated only to women's clothing; Mauritz comes from Mauritz Widforss, the hunting and fishing supplies establishment that the founder bought years later in Stockholm and which opened the door for him to also sell men's clothing. Behind the business is the Persson family, one of Sweden's great business dynasties. Erling was the founder; his son Stefan led the group's great international expansion, and his grandson, Karl-Johan Persson, has also held top leadership positions.The journey that changed everything

Before dressing millions of people, Erling Persson had sold almost everything. The son of a gourmet product merchant from Västerås, he soon left his studies and moved to Stockholm with two hundred crowns in his pocket. With a friend, Björn Wennberg, he started by selling office supplies and, later, Christmas decorations. Fashion was not yet part of his horizon. In fact, what attracted him was something else: the gears of commerce, the way of buying, displaying, selling, and starting again.The turning point came in 1946, during a car trip through the United States. Persson discovered a way of selling there that was not yet common in post-war Europe: stores with large volumes of product, low prices, and constant turnover. That model impressed him enough to import its logic to Sweden. A year later, he opened his first women's clothing store in Västerås. It was called Hennes and was based on a key idea: fashion could also be affordable.The idea worked. Five years after opening the first store in Västerås, Persson inaugurated another one in the center of Stockholm. Little by little, Hennes began to grow within Sweden and to project itself beyond its natural market. In 1964, it made its first international leap, with the opening of a store in Norway. But the most symbolic change would arrive a few years later, with a purchase apparently unrelated to fashion.In 1968, Persson acquired Mauritz Widforss, a Stockholm store specializing in hunting and fishing articles. The move allowed him to gain commercial presence in the Swedish capital, but it also had an unexpected consequence: the operation included a stock of men's clothing. Persson took advantage of it and Hennes also began to sell items for men. With that expansion, the brand left behind its original name and became Hennes & Mauritz. In 1974, it went public on the stock exchange in Stockholm and, two years later, opened its first store outside Scandinavia, in London.A model designed to scale

From here, H&M turned Persson's initial intuition into a model designed to grow: affordable prices, large volumes, well-located stores, and an offering capable of rapid renewal. The company did not want to compete with haute couture, but rather to bring the language of fashion closer to the general public. Distribution, more than design, became the heart of the business.Over the years, the group accelerated its international expansion, entered the United States, and diversified with brands such as COS, Monki, Weekday, Other Stories, Arket, or H&M Home. It also turned collaborations with designers into a global marketing resource. Today, H&M remains one of the global giants in the sector, but it competes in a market increasingly pressured by Inditex, Shein, and new consumer habits.