H&M ( Hennes & Mauritz ) is a Swedish company, Europe’s largest clothing retailer, headquartered in Stockholm and New York . H&M and its subsidiaries operate in 71 countries with 4968 stores as of November 2018 [2] . This is the second largest global clothing retailer, after the Spanish corporation Inditex (brand owner: Zara , Oysho , Massimo Dutti , Bershka , Pull and Bear ). The company was founded in 1947 by Erling Persson. [3]
| H&M | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type of | Public company |
| Exchange listing | SSE : HM |
| Base | 1947 |
| Founders | |
| Location |
 USA : New York . |
| Key figures | Stefan Persson (Chairman of the Board of Directors) Karl Johan Persson (CEO) |
| Industry | retail trade ( ISIC :47 ) |
| Products | Clothing, cosmetics, household goods |
| Equity |
|
| Turnover | 118.7 billion SEK for 2009 |
| Operating profit |
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| Net profit |
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| Assets |
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| Number of employees | About 104 thousand people |
| Parent company | |
| Affiliated companies | Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday , COS, Weekday, & Other Stories, Arket, AFound |
| Site | www.hm.com |
Content
History
In 1947, Erling Persson opened a Hennes women's clothing store (from Swedish - “for her”) in Vasteras (Sweden). Later, in 1968, Erling Persson acquired a shop for hunters and fishermen Mauritz Widforss. The assortment adds clothing lines for men and children, the company name changes to Hennes & Mauritz.
In 1974, the company was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. [4] Then, in London, in 1976, the first store opened outside Scandinavia. [4] On March 31, 2000, America opened its first store on Fifth Avenue in New York, marking the beginning of expansion beyond Europe. [four]
The company in 2008 announced that it would start selling household goods. [five]
At the end of 2011, H&M operated 2,325 stores, and at the end of August 2012 - 2,629 stores. [6] In September 2013, the 3,000th H&M store opened in Chengdu, China. [7]
Owners and management
The largest shareholder of the company is the family of H&M chairman Stefan Persson , who owns about 37% of the shares. The president and CEO is Karl-Johan Persson.
Activities
The company produces and sells clothes. In addition to clothing, H&M offers customers a variety of interior products (pillows, textiles, etc.) (as of 2009, this line of goods was distributed exclusively through the company's online catalog, therefore it is available only in countries where sales via the online store are realized, such as Denmark , Finland , Germany , the Netherlands , Norway , Sweden and England ). The company operates in 71 countries through more than 4,000 stores (data for 2016) [8] .
The company employs approximately 104,000 employees, sales in 2009 amounted to 118,700 million SEK , including VAT.
In Q4 2017, H&M sales fell 4%. This is the worst indicator for 10 years, in connection with this, the brand’s shares fell 13% to the level of 2009. It is planned to close ineffective stores and start selling clothes in the Chinese online store Tmall, owned by Alibaba. [9]
Collaboration
Since 2004, the company has introduced the practice of producing collections in collaboration with renowned designers. So, in November 2004, a collection of Karl Lagerfeld was presented in some H&M stores. The press reported a huge stir for these things, in large cities the collection was sold out within an hour [10] .
Further, in November 2005, a collection from Stella McCartney was released, in November 2006 - a collection from the avant-garde Dutch fashion house Viktor & Rolf ( born Viktor & Rolf ). In March 2006, the company began cooperation with Madonna [11] .
In June 2007, game developer Maxis, together with H&M, released an addition to The Sims 2 - H&M Fashion Stuff , which included 60 clothing models and 3 H&M stores.
In November 2007, a collection of Italian designer Roberto Cavalli was presented. Also in 2007, a collection of swimwear from Kylie Minogue was presented in Shanghai [12] . In autumn 2008, a collection was released in collaboration with the Japanese brand Comme des Garçons .
The spring-summer 2009 collection included design items by British fashion designer Matthew Williamson . The first collection included only women's clothing and was presented only in some stores, the second - women's and men's (this was the designer’s first men's collection) and was sold in all H&M stores [13] . On November 14, a collection of shoes and bags from Jimmy Choo was presented in 200 stores.
Another H&M collaboration took place with Sonya Riquel , who released a collection of women's knitwear on December 5, and then a collection of underwear. At the end of 2010, a capsule collection created jointly with the Lanvin fashion house was presented to the public.
At the end of 2011, a clothing collection was created in collaboration with H&M and Versace.
In September 2012, the company released a joint autumn collection with singer Lana Del Rey . Two promotional videos with the singer were also shot, for which she recorded a cover version of the song “ Blue Velvet ”. On November 6, 2014, a joint collection of H&M and designer Alexander Wang went on sale [14] .
In the fall of 2015, H&M developed the H&M x Balmain clothing collection in collaboration with Balmain fashion house designer Olivier Rusten [15] .
In November 2015, H&M launched the New Year's clothing collection with Katy Perry .
Working conditions
In August 2011, nearly 200 workers lost consciousness in a week at one of the Cambodian H&M plants. The reason recognized smoke from chemicals, poor ventilation, malnutrition of workers. The minimum wage in Cambodia is equivalent to only 66 dollars (42 pounds) per month - a level that, in the opinion of human rights groups, is not even half equal to the level necessary to meet basic needs.
Bangladesh and international labor groups submitted a detailed safety proposal in 2011 that included independent inspections of garment factories. The plan stipulated that inspectors should be able to close unsafe factories. The proposal included the conclusion of a legally binding contract between suppliers, customers and trade unions. At a meeting in Dhaka in 2011, major European and North American retailers, including H&M, rejected the offer. Further efforts by unions to promote this proposal after numerous and deadly fires in factories were rejected [ 57 ].
The Guardian wrote that in a conscious Sustainability Report for 2012, H&M published a list of factories that supply 95% of their clothing. Most retailers and brands do not share this information, citing trade secrets [ 58 ].
On January 2, 2013, The Ecologist reported [ 59 ] that H&M continued to work with the Uzbek government to exploit child and adult forced labor as cotton pickers in Uzbekistan [ 60 ].
Following the collapse of the building in April 2013, Savar and other retailers signed the Manufacturing and Construction Safety Agreement in Bangladesh. On May 19, 2013, a textile factory that produced clothing for H&M in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) crashed, resulting in injuries to several people. [ 61 ] The incident raised concerns about industrial safety regulations.
On November 25, 2013, the head of the H&M Sustainability Department announced [ 62 ] [ 63 ] that H&M, as the second largest clothing retailer in the world, would aim to pay all textile workers a “living wage” by 2018, stating that the governments of Bangladesh among other Asian countries, they react too slowly to poor working conditions in which many clothing retailers get most or even all of their belongings. At the end of 2013, wages in Bangladesh were increased from 3,000 Taka ($ 40) to 5,300 Taka ($ 70) per month [ 64 ].
In September 2015, the non-governmental organization CleanClothes.org, which worked on working conditions for sewing workers, announced the absence of special projects to upgrade fire safety systems at H&M suppliers' factories [ 65 ].
In June 2016 SumOfUs launched a campaign to put pressure on H&M to fulfill the Bangladeshi sewing worker protection commitment they signed after the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, which killed more than 1,100 people, mostly doormans, in unsafe factories located in an eight-story building. a building not intended for factories. SumOfUs argue that “H&M is lagging behind schedule in addressing the security risks its employees face every day” [ 66 ].
In February 2017, The Guardian reported that children were employed in Myanmar to produce H&M goods and received only 13 pence (about 15 US cents) per hour - half of the minimum wage established by law [ 67 ].
Advertising
Traditionally, for the advertising and design of H&M stores, posters with the image of models on a white background are used. Well-known models are usually involved in advertising campaigns, for example, Sasha Pivovarova and Eniko Mikhalik [16] participated in the fall-winter 2009 campaign, and John Cortajarena [17] in the fall-winter 2010.
| Uncomplicated but effective H&M posters (usually depicting fashion models in free poses on a plain white background) have become a familiar part of the cityscape.Tangate Mark, Brand Building in Fashion: From Armani to Zara, 2007 |
Criticism
The company has been criticized several times because of its negative environmental impact and infringement of workers' rights in third world countries. In response to this, the company launches the H&M Conscious [18] range of organic cotton and recycled fabrics, the collection of which the store began in 2013.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 https://about.hm.com/content/dam/hmgroup/groupsite/documents/masterlanguage/Annual%20Report/Annual%20Report%202018.pdf
- ↑ H&M Full-year report .
- ↑ H&M to Open in Tbilisi on November 18 (English) (unavailable link) . commersant. Date of treatment February 8, 2018. Archived on February 9, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Our-History (unavailable link) (March 19, 2013). Date of treatment February 8, 2018. Archived March 19, 2013.
- ↑ h & m (eng.) , Brands (January 8, 2017). Date of treatment February 8, 2018.
- ↑ www.sdggroup.com .
- ↑ What does h & m mean . Date of treatment February 8, 2018.
- ↑ Our place of work . career.hm.com. Date of treatment April 29, 2016.
- ↑ H&M closes stores due to falling sales
- ↑ Kerstin Sedvallsson. Designplagg tog slut på en timme (Swedish) . Nyheter - DN.se. Dagens Nyheter AB (November 12, 2004). Date of treatment July 25, 2010. Archived on February 9, 2012.
- ↑ H&M collection from Madonna . XAGE Youth Portal (March 25, 2005). Date of treatment 2010-07-259. Archived on February 9, 2012.
- ↑ Australian singer Kylie Minogue chosen for the H&M beachwear campaign (inaccessible link) . enjoyfashion.com (March 5, 2007). Date of treatment July 25, 2010. Archived on September 27, 2007.
- ↑ Matthew Williamson brings sun to H&M this summer . H & M HENNES & MAURITZ AB (November 25, 2008). Date of treatment July 25, 2010. Archived on February 9, 2012.
- ↑ H&M Life | Alexander Wang x H&M . www.hm.com. Date of appeal September 27, 2015.
- ↑ These A-listers joined the H&M Balmainia . H&M. Date of treatment November 5, 2015.
- ↑ High street: H&M Fall 2009 Collection . The Magnificent Rogues . blogspot.com (August 14, 2009). Date of treatment July 26, 2010. Archived on February 9, 2012.
- ↑ h & m f / w 10 . models.com . models.com. Date of treatment July 31, 2010. Archived on February 9, 2012.
- ↑ Do not let the fashion turn into trash. (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment October 27, 2017. Archived October 27, 2017.