Erling Persson (21 January 1917 – 28 October 2002) was the founder of H&M (Hennes & Mauritz). He got the idea following a post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

trip to the United States: He was impressed by the country's efficient, high-volume stores. He established the company in

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...

, Sweden, in 1947 selling women's clothing, calling it ''Hennes,'' Swedish for "hers." In 1968, Persson acquired the premises and

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

of a

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

hunting equipment store named Mauritz Widforss. In 1982, his son, Stefan Persson took over as the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, and today is the chairman of the board. The Persson family owns about 47% of the company and has a 74% voting rights.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Persson, Erling 1917 births 2002 deaths Swedish businesspeople in fashion People from Borlänge Municipality Erling