Erik Palm

"Right now, everything feels far away, as he travels through the USA accompanied by his publicity man on a rather unplanned hunt for new business ideas. The journey has taken him from New York all the way down to New Orleans, then back up to Philadelphia and Washington, and finally across the continent heading towards California."

"Despite H&M's position in Sweden - and in the world - not much is known to the public about the man who heads the company's hundreds of thousands of employees. H&M is Sweden's sixth largest public stock, with almost a quarter of a million private owners who receive scant information from the company. Not even out in the stores, where he is known as "the big boss", do the employees know much about who he really is. Even less is known by the seamstresses sewing H&M's clothes thousands of miles away."

"The newly-made father of two does everything to get the people of Västerås to buy his clothes. Often, he offers prices up to thirty percent lower than his competitors. Although he earns less per garment with this strategy, the volumes are larger and thus also the total profit.[5](private://read/01jas9tvg84jycb27616w1f9k8/#note-5) He is also concerned that the clothes should follow the latest fashion. He wants to sell to girls "who did not want to look like their mothers," as he described it himself at a store opening.[6](private://read/01jas9tvg84jycb27616w1f9k8/#note-6)"

"The yellow taxis resemble a lava stream flowing south along the one-way Fifth Avenue in New York. On the sidewalks, businessmen in Armani suits walk with a paper cup of coffee in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. This parade street is the address for some of Manhattan's biggest tourist attractions: Rockefeller Center and the circular architectural museum Guggenheim. At the corner of Fifth Avenue and 51st Street on the Upper West Side, H&M's team has finally found the perfect spot. On 3,000 square meters of retail space across three levels, New Yorkers will be offered departments for men, women, youth, and cosmetics. Large glass windows form an enticing front facing the street. It is not possible to find many more expensive retail addresses anywhere in the world. Right next door, the luxury brand Gucci has its store. Stefan Persson says in a radio interview that low-price H&M still becomes a good neighbor."

"– The reward was not in the pay envelope. If you showed initiative and took responsibility, you were rewarded. "Go to Värnamo, go to Uddevalla, go to London," they would say when there was a new opening. You did not say no. I got a job in Germany in 1984. I was only 28 then.[11](private://read/01jas9tvg84jycb27616w1f9k8/#note-11)"