H&M is a Swedish multinational clothing retail company known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers, and children. As of November 2019, H&M operates in 74 countries with over 5,000 stores under the various company brands, with 126,000 full-time equivalent positions. It is the second-largest global clothing retailer, behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of Zara). Founded by Erling Persson and run by his son Stefan Persson and Helena Helmersson, the company makes its online shopping available in 33 countries.

In November 2004, select 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, although the clothes were still available in less fashion-sensitive areas until the company redistributed them to meet with demand.

In November 2006, the company launched a collection by Stella McCartney and, also in November 2006, by avant-garde Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf. In March 2007, it launched another collaboration designed by the pop star Madonna.

In June 2007 the company worked with game developers Maxis to create a stuff pack for the latter’s The Sims 2 computer game, H&M Fashion Stuff.

In November 2007, the company launched a collection by Italian designer Roberto Cavalli. Also in 2007, another design with Kylie Minogue was launched in Shanghai, China. In the spring of 2008, the Finnish company Marimekko was selected as a guest designer and was followed by the Japanese Comme des Garçons in the fall.

For spring and summer 2009, the British designer Matthew Williamson created two exclusive ranges for the company – the first being a collection of women’s clothes released in select stores. The second collection saw Williamson branch into menswear for the first time, only in select stores. It featured swimwear for men and women and was available in every company store worldwide. On 14 November 2009, the company released a limited-edition diffusion collection by Jimmy Choo featuring shoes and handbags, ranging from £30 to £170 including a range of men’s shoes. The collection also included clothing designed by Choo, many garments made of suede and leather, and was available in 200 stores worldwide, including London’s Oxford Circus store. Sonia Rykiel also collaborated with the company, by designing a ladies knitwear and lingerie range that was released in selected company stores on 5 December 2009.

For fall 2010, the company collaborated with French fashion house, Lanvin. In March 2011, the brand’s clothing was featured in an interactive fashion art film by Imagine Fashion called “Decadent Control”, starring Roberto Cavalli, Kirsty Hume, Eva Herzigová and Brad Kroenig. For Spring/Summer 2011, the company collaborated with fashion blogger Elin Kling, which was available at select stores only.

In June 2011, H&M announced a collaboration with Versace that was released on 19 November. Versace also planned a Spring collaboration with the company that was only available in countries with online sales. Similar to previous collaborations, Versace agreed to let H&M use its name for a previously agreed-upon sum, without actually having a role in the design process. In November 2011, H&M announced a collaboration plan with Marni, that launched in March 2012. The campaign was directed by director Sofia Coppola.[30]

Trompe-l’œil printed viscose jersey dress by Maison Martin Margiela for H&M, 2012
Lana Del Rey was the face of the fully plotted music video for the 2012 global summer collection, in which she also sang a cover of “Blue Velvet”.

On 4 October 2012, Japanese Vogue editor Anna Dello Russo launched an accessories collection at H&M as Paris Fashion Week drew to an end. The collection was stocked in 140 H&M stores worldwide and also sold through the website On 12 June 2012, H&M confirmed that it would launch a collaboration with avant-garde label Maison Martin Margiela for a fall rollout. The Maison Martin Margiela collection for H&M hit stores on 15 November 2012.

Beyoncé was the face of H&M in the summer of 2013. Her campaign, which began in May 2013 was entitled “Mrs Carter in H&M”, and drew heavily on Knowles’ personal style. The singer also included the track “Standing on the Sun” from her fifth studio album as the campaign soundtrack. Isabel Marant was a collaboration designer for fall 2013 and for the first time made a few men’s pieces to accompany the women’s collection. The collaboration was sold out very quickly in cities across the globe and was heavily anchored in sales online as well.

Alexander Wang was announced as a collaboration to be released 6 November 2014 across the world to a select 250 stores. The announcement came during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California and was be the first collaboration with an American designer.

Balmain was announced as the next collaboration with H&M. The collection was released on 5 November 2015. The announcement came from Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing’s Instagram page. The 2015 Christmas campaign was in collaboration with the pop star Katy Perry, who also sang the commercial soundtrack “‘Every Day Is A Holiday”.

In November 2016, H&M released a designer line in collaboration with Kenzo. That year the company released an annual holiday movie directed by Wes Anderson as part of the company’s Christmas advertising campaign. Titled “Come Together”, the short film starred Adrien Brody as a train conductor who saves Christmas after a blizzard delays the train’s arrival, making the few passengers on board miss part of the holiday.

In February 2017, Swedish singer Zara Larsson designed a “playful, young, empowering and little glamorous” collection with H&M. After 20 years, Naomi Campbell came back to collaborate for a global female empowerment commercial spot with the company. She wore clothes that blur the line between masculine and feminine and in the spot video she also lip-synced “Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)” by Wham!.

In 2018, the flagship New York City location trialled an in-store “Voice Interactive Mirror” developed by Microsoft and Ombori. The mirror was a voice and facial recognition activated and had an in-mirror personal shopping assistant as well as encouraged customers to sign up for newsletters and scan QR codes. A German CPG news source, Lebensmittelzeitung, concluded that “86% of customers who took a selfie ended up scanning the QR code and 10% of customers also registered for the newsletter.] In April 2018 the brand also collaborated with the designer Jeremy Scott and Moschino.

In July 2019, H&M collaborated with designer Richard Allan to revive the spirit of the swinging sixties.

In September 2019, H&M halted its leather purchases from Brazil in response to the 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires. The company issued an email statement: “The ban will be active until there are credible assurance systems in place to verify that the leather does not contribute to environmental harm in the Amazon”. The company imports only a small fraction of its leather needs from the country.

In August 2020, H&M collaborated with Lebanese designer Sandra Mansour for the Fleur du Soleil collection. It was the first time H&M had partnered with an Arab designer.

In March 2021 the brand announced its collaborative partner for 2021 will be Irish designer Simone Rocha. The daughter of designer John Rocha, Simone is a regular at London Fashion Week and was named ‘Womenswear Designer of the Year’ in 2016 at the British Fashion Awards. Rocha’s designs are famed for their femininity which is also shown in an H&M campaign film shot by Tyler Mitchell.