Europe, which is known as a fashion center, makes Stefan Persson one of the richest people in the world. Person is the heir and owner of clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz aka H&M. Person is a man born in Stockholm, Sweden on October 4, 1947. He was the CEO of H&M from 1982-1998.
His father, Erling Persson, founded the women's clothing store, Hennes in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947. The company added another store in Stockholm and soon became a fashion fixture on the Swedish market.
That's why they finally expanded their reach to other European countries. Men's clothing was added through the acquisition of Swedish hunting gear retailer Mauritz Widforss in 1968, after which the company was commonly known as H&M as a retailer selling men's and women's clothing.
Persson, who joined the family company in 1972, helped lead the European expansion. His presence added to the expansion to England and opened the first H&M store in London, England in 1976. After that, his father, Erling Persson listed the company on the Swedish stock exchange. His family also owns the majority of H&M shares. Furthermore, H&M branches continued to grow, starting from Denmark, England, Norway and other European countries.
In 1982, after Stefan Persson graduated from Stockholm University, his father decided to retire and make the company taken over by Stefan Persson. He was also the managing director and CEO of H&M when his father was chairman of the board.
Since then, Stefan Persson who has a big vision and mission at H&M has brought his company to the world. Stores began to open in Germany, France, the United States, China, Japan, Russia, Turkey, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
In fact, many people initially doubted whether Stefan Persson could lead H&M, considering he was only 32 years old at the time. But the results can be seen for themselves now.
By the late 1990s, H&M had become the largest retail clothing chain in Europe. As it grew, H&M built its reputation on fashion with trendy designs that were very expensive with wide appeal. This is because, all the designs are made by in-house designers.
Their concept was quickly transformed into mass market garments through a network of manufacturers in countries such as Turkey, Bangladesh and China. Persson recognizes the potential of global business and fashion; as a result, H&M does not change garment designs for specific national or regional markets.
This strategy allowed H&M to exploit economies of scale as the company expanded into the US (in 2000) and Canada (in 2004); it also opened its first stores in the Middle East, in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (2006), and in China (2007).
In 2012 H&M operated approximately 2,500 stores in more than 40 countries. Most of the brands sold through H&M are in-house labels, but Persson capitalized on his star appeal by enlisting design lines from fashion designers, including Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Matthew Williamson, Jimmy Choo, Versace, and Marni, as well as pop singer Kylie Minogue. and Madonna.
Now, Perssin's son, Karl-Johan has been appointed CEO of H&M since 2009. But Persson remains chairman of the board of H&M which is now worth $18.1 billion (Rp257 trillion).