H&M added menswear in 1968 after buying which Stockholm retailer?

H&M added menswear in 1968 after acquiring the Stockholm hunting-apparel retailer Mauritz Widforss.

Erling Persson founded Hennes in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947 as a women’s clothing shop. The company expanded into Norway in 1964, but its product range was still centered on women’s fashion. Buying Mauritz Widforss changed that direction by bringing a retailer with experience in hunting clothing and men’s apparel into the business.

The acquisition led Hennes to add menswear and change its name to Hennes & Mauritz. The initials were later shortened to H&M, the name used worldwide today. The deal therefore explains both the company’s move into men’s clothing and the origin of its familiar expanded name.

Mauritz Widforss is sometimes mistaken for a shopping center or department store such as NK Stockholm. It was a specific Stockholm retailer, associated with hunting and outdoor clothing. H&M continued its international growth afterward: its first store outside Scandinavia opened in London in 1976, and its first U.S. store opened on New York’s Fifth Avenue in 2000.