H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈhoː.ˈɛm; ˈhɛnːˈɛs ɔ ˈma.ʊrɪts]; H&M) is a Swedish multinational clothing-retail company, known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children.H&M operates in 62 countries with over 4,000 stores and as of 2015 employed around 132,000 people. The first store was opened on the high street of Västerås, Sweden in 1947. It had 2,325 stores at the end of 2011, 2,629 stores at the end of August 2012 and opened its 3,000th store in September 2013 in Chengdu, China. It is ranked the second largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of Zara), and leads over the third largest global clothing retailer, United States based Gap Inc. The company has a significant on-line presence, H&M online shopping is available in 32 countries, COS in 19 countries, Monki/Weekday 18 countries each, & Other Stories in 13 markets, and Cheap Monday in 5 markets.