H&M, which also owns the brands COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, Arket and H&M Home, said in December it would be closing stores, but didn't specify how many or where. Not only have H&M sales almost never declined, but the drop was bigger than analysts had expected. In December, the group announced a four percent drop in fourth quarter sales from the previous year, to 50.4 billion kronor (5.0 billion euros, $6.22 billion). 'It's (been) one of the toughest years for H&M,' Joakim Bornold, an economist at the investment bank Nordnet told AFP, noting that the company's stock price has fallen by 35 percent since January 2017. Mirzaie said the company had committed to manufacture some of its products in South Africa and had also entered into a collaboration with a South African fashion designer.H&M is one of the most well-known brands in the world, with global brand consultancy Interbrand ranking it the 23rd best known company worldwide in 2017 - ahead of Ikea and fashion luxury goods manufacturer Hermes.īut lately, H&M has struggled to lure shoppers into its 4,553 stores around the world, and has been slow to develop its online offering.

She said two local advertising campaigns were launched in collaboration with a local creative agency. Mirzaie said another commitment following the incident was that the company’s global marketing teams needed to work with local South African black-owned marketing and creative agencies. She said the workshops were for the entire management group in South Africa‚ including store managers‚ assistant store managers and all regional teams. “Locally‚ we have had collaborations with the IJR where diversity and inclusiveness workshops were carried out in May and August‚” Mirzaie said. She said although the company had over 170‚000 employees from diverse backgrounds worldwide‚ it recognised the need to increase awareness and education across the organisation‚ not just in terms of what met the eye but also diversity in terms of thoughts and perspective. She said after the outcry‚ the company had met organisations including the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR). “Our position was and still is very clear: this was a big mistake and we simply got it wrong‚” said Mirzaie.

Mirzaie said questions were raised after the incident about whether H&M was a racist company.

Racism h and m ad