H&M is the worlds second-largest international clothing retailer, behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of Zara).

The company was founded by Erling Persson in 1947, when he opened his first shop in Västerås, Sweden. The shop, called Hennes (Swedish for "hers"), exclusively sold women's clothing. Since January 2012 H&M has offered its H&M Design Award, an annual design prize for fashion graduates. The prize is established to support young designers with the beginning of their careers.

(WOWTIMES) H&M’s history and achievements

• 1947: The first store opens in Västerås, Sweden, selling women’s clothing
• 1952:  Hennes opens in Stockholm.
• 1964: The first Norwegian store opens
• 1974: The company was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
• 1976: The UK welcomes Hennes & Mauritz to the British high street
• 1980s: Stores open in Germany and the Netherlands. H&M acquires the mail order company Rowells.
• 1998: First store opens in France, and the business takes its first steps in ecommercewith the domain hm.com 
• 2000: H&M Fifth Avenue, New  York City, opens as the first U.S store.
• 2006: The first ever franchise for the company opens in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, closely followed by a store opening in Kuwait City, Kuwait.
• 2007: H&M enters East Asia with Kylie Minogue opening the flagship Hong Kong store. Cos launches.
• 2008: H&M takes a 60% share of fashion firm FaBric Scandanavian AB and acquires brands Weekday, Monki and Cheap Monday
• 2013: H&M launches Sister brand & Other Stories, debuting at the London Regent Street branch.

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.

According to Wikipedia