In which country was H&M founded?

H&M was founded in Sweden. In 1947, Swedish entrepreneur Erling Persson opened the first Hennes store in Västerås, selling women’s clothing.

The name Hennes means “hers” in Swedish. The company remained Swedish as it expanded: its first store outside Sweden opened in Norway in 1964, but Norway was an early international market, not H&M’s birthplace.

In 1968, Persson acquired Mauritz Widforss, a Stockholm hunting and fishing retailer. That deal added men’s clothing and led to the name Hennes & Mauritz, later shortened to H&M. The company’s headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden.

A common mix-up is to confuse the location of H&M’s first foreign store with its founding country. The founding store was in Västerås, while Norway was simply the first country reached by the international expansion.