<P> Hennes & Mauritz AB (Swedish pronunciation: (2hoː. ɛm; 2hɛnːɛs ɔ ˈma. ʊrɪts); H&M) is a Swedish multinational clothing - retail company known for its fast - fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children . H&M and its associated companies operate in 62 countries with over 4,500 stores and as of 2015 employed around 132,000 people . It is the second - largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spain - based Inditex (parent company of Zara). The company has a significant on - line presence, with on - line shopping available in 33 countries: </P> <P> The company was founded by Erling Persson in 1947, when he opened his first shop in Västerås, Sweden . The shop, called Hennes (Swedish for "hers"), exclusively sold women's clothing . A store was opened in Norway in 1964 . In 1968, Persson acquired the hunting apparel retailer Mauritz Widforss, which led to the inclusion of a menswear collection in the product range and the name change to Hennes & Mauritz . </P> <P> The company was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1974 . Shortly after, in 1976, the first store outside Scandinavia opened in London . H&M continued to expand in Europe, and began to retail online in 1998, when it was able to buy the domain hm.com from a company called A1 in a non-published domain transaction . The two - letter domain was registered in the early 1990s, but data on the first registration is lost . The opening of the first U.S. store on March 31, 2000, on Fifth Avenue in New York marked the start of the expansion outside of Europe . </P> <P> In 2008, the company announced in a press release that it would begin selling home furnishings . Initially distributed through the company's online catalogue, there are now H&M Home stores located internationally . </P>

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