H&M

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) is a Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children.

Η&M exists in 43 countries and as of 2011 employed around 94,000 people.

The first store was opened on the high street of Västerås, Sweden in 1947.

It had 2,325 stores at end of 2011 and 2,629 stores at end of August 2012.

It is ranked the second largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of ZARA), 

and leads over third largest global clothing retailer, United States based GAP Inc.

The design team in the company’s Sweden office controls the steps of production,

from merchandise planning to establishing specifications, and production is outsourced to approximately 800 factories in Europe and Asia.

These facilities are used for horizontal division of labor, rather than being integrated.

-Philanthropy

As of 2012, H&M has raised over $4.5 million USD, through a 5 year partner program with UN charity organization UNICEF.

Starting in February 2013, H&M will offer patrons a voucher in exchange for used garments. 

Donated garments will be processed by I:CO, a retailer that repurposes and recycles used clothing 

with the goal of creating a zero-waste economy.

The initiative is similar to a clothes-collection voucher program launched in April 2012 

by Marks & Spencer in partnership with Oxfam.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB

Trading name : H&M

Type                 : Aktiebolag

Traded as        : OMX: HM B

Industry         : Retail

Founded        : Västerås, Sweden (1947)

Founder(s) : Erling Persson

Headquarters : Stockholm, Sweden

Area served : Worldwide 

Key people : Stefan Persson (Chairman)Karl-Johan Persson (President and CEO)

Products         : Clothing, accessories

Revenue        : 126.97 billion (2010)

Operating

 income           : SEK 24.66 billion (2010)

Net income : SEK 18.68 billion (2010)

Employees : 59,440 (FTE, 2010 average)

Website        : http://www.hm.com