H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, commonly known by its brand name H&M, is a Swedish multinational fashion retailer headquartered in Stockholm.

The company has a significant global presence, operating thousands of stores across 75 geographical markets and employing over 100,000 people worldwide.

[24][25] Under the "H&M with Friends", H&M will partner with Good American, a brand founded by Khloe Kardashian and Emme Grede, to feature their products in H&M's Swedish and German e-commerce shops.

[31] Along with hundreds of other global companies, H&M announced on 2 March 2022, an end to retail operations of its more than 150 stores in Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[32][33] Having recently expanded via its Weekday and & Other Stories formats, Russia was H&M's sixth-biggest market at the time, representing 4% of group sales in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The key trends for the H&M Group are (as of the financial year ending 30 November):[37] Starting in February 2013, H&M began offering patrons a voucher in exchange for used garments.

The company teamed with Canopy, a nonprofit, to remove endangered and ancient forests from their dissolvable pulp supply chain for their viscose and rayon fabrics.

[72] 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."

[79] COS launched its flagship store on London's Regent Street in March 2007 with a catwalk show at the Royal Academy.

[83] COS has 197 stores in 34 countries[84] in Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and the Middle East and currently retails online to 19 markets via cos.com.

The minimum wage in the country is the equivalent of $66 (£42) a month, an amount that is less than half of what is required to meet basic needs, according to human rights groups.

[85] The same year, Bangladeshi and international labor groups put forth a detailed safety proposal that entailed the establishment of independent inspections of garment factories.

[86] A report by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) found a significant rise in worker abuse allegations in Myanmar garment factories since the military coup in 2021.

This has led some fashion brands like Inditex (Zara owner) to cut ties with Myanmar suppliers, while others like H&M and Bestseller are increasing monitoring efforts.

The decision to stay or leave is complex, with some arguing continued engagement offers leverage for improvement, while others fear a race to the bottom if major brands exit.

[89] On 2 January 2013, The Ecologist reported[90] allegations by Anti-Slavery International that H&M was continuing its association with the Uzbek government in exploiting child and adult forced labor as cotton harvesters in Uzbekistan.

[91] In September 2020, amid international allegations over the use of Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang, H&M published a statement saying that it had stopped buying cotton from growers in Xinjiang, stating that it was "deeply concerned by reports from civil society organizations and media that include accusations of forced labor and discrimination of ethno-religious minorities".

[92] In February 2017, The Guardian reported children were employed to make H&M products in Myanmar and were paid 13p (about 15 cents US) an hour – half the full legal minimum wage.

In June 2016, SumOfUs launched a campaign to pressure H&M to honor the commitment they made and signed to protect Bangladesh's garment workers.

On 25 November 2013, H&M's global head of sustainability committed[97][98] that H&M, as the world's second-largest clothing retailer, would aim to pay all textile workers "living wage" by 2018, stating that governments are responding too slowly to poor working conditions in Bangladesh among other Asian countries where many clothing retailers source a majority if not all of their garments.

[99] In September 2015, CleanClothes.org, an NGO involved in garment labor working conditions, reported on a lack of specific fire safety renovations in H&M suppliers' factories.

[100] In 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused 82 major brands, including H&M, of being connected to alleged forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang.

[105] It further stated that it had "never had a business relationship with a mill owned by the yarn producer Huafu Fashion Co in Anhui province where workers from XUAR have been employed".

[111] Chinese state media outlet China Global Television Network countered the statements against Xinjiang cotton with a video showing automation in cotton-picking and local Uyghurs claiming that the industry brought high earnings.

However, since opening in Israel, the Palestinian branch of BDS has campaigned for boycott of fashion chain, demanding that they pull out of the country.

[123] In January 2016, H&M initially put out and later pulled a tallit-like beige and dark blue striped scarf in its Israeli stores, after it was accused of being offensive to Jews.

[125] Melinda Tankard Reist, an Australian writer, questioned the brand's motives, claiming that young girls just want to be left alone and don't want unwelcome attention.