H&M Stockholm

blog_image_0: 

Originally Hennes & Mauritz H&M AB is one of the largest global clothing retailers from Sweden. The company owns more than 2 000 stores in over 39 countries and around 800 factories in Europe and Asia. The brand is famous for its exclusive collections by such famous fashion designers as Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Jimmy Choo, Roberto Cavalli, Matthew Williamson, Sonia Rykiel and others.

In 1947 Eling Persson founded a company specializing in selling women’s clothing and named it Hennes. In 1968 Erling bought a store selling items for fishermen called Mauritz Widforss. His aim was to get more retail space in Stockholm, but later he decided to expand the range of goods adding new lines of clothes for both men and kids. The name of the company was changed to Hennes & Mauritz. In 1976 Persson’s son Stefan decided to give all the customers the records of famous Swedish band ABBA. The records were immediately given away and the number of customers grew twice.  Hennes & Mauritz was rebranded to H&M to simplify the general perception of the brand.

Since then Persson’s business goes beyond his native country. The first H&M stores appeared in Norway and Denmark.  In 1976 the stores were opened in England, Switzerland and Germany. By the 80s almost all biggest cities of Europe could boast of having an H&M store. The main concept is «Fashion and quality at the best price».

Since 2004 H&M started launching new clothing lines in collaboration with famous fashion designers. In November 2004 the exclusive collection by Karl Lagerfeld was sold-out within an hour. In 2005 another collaboration designed by Stella McCartney was launched. In 2007 world-famous pop star Madonna took part in the designing of a new collection. In the same year Roberto Cavalli and Kylie Minogue launched their collections for H&M. Such a successful year has drawn even more attention to the brand.

On 14 November 2009, the company released a limited-edition collection of suede and leather shoes and handbags by Jimmy Choo. Sonia Rykiel’s collection of ladies knitwear and lingerie designed especially for H&M was released in December 2009.

In the year 2010 the brand collaborated with a world-famous French fashion house Lanvin. In October 2012 the editor of Japanese Vogue will present her accessory collection for the brand. H&M nowadays consists of five different independent brands – H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday and Cheap Monday.

Besides great quality products, affordable prices and huge advertising campaigns with celebrities, H&M is socially conscious. It is the biggest user of organic cotton in the world. It also collaborates with UNICEF Sverige (The United Nations Children's Fund) helping to protect children’s rights in cotton producing areas. H&M should be definitely added into the list of your top places to shop in Stockholm.