Heritage
A house, in its own words
The H&M Group launched & Other Stories in Stockholm in 2013 as a sister brand to COS and Monki. The name reflects the label’s commitment to offering a range of styles that sit alongside each other, encouraging customers to mix and match. Early stores featured a boutique‑like layout, with dedicated sections for clothing, shoes, accessories and a small beauty corner. By 2015 the brand expanded to London, Paris and New York, quickly gaining a reputation for runway‑inspired pieces at accessible price points. In 2018 the company opened its first flagship on London’s Regent Street, a space that combined retail with a workshop for in‑house designers. The brand’s sustainability agenda took shape that same year, with a pledge to use recycled or sustainably sourced materials in at least 50 % of its collections by 2025. In 2020 & Other Stories introduced a dedicated beauty line, partnering with independent cosmetics labs to create makeup that mirrors its fashion colour palette. The fragrance program debuted in 2022, a collaboration that brought together Ben Gorham, founder of Byredo, and veteran perfumer Azzi. The first four releases – Perfect Pistachio, Pink Noon, Punk Bouquet and Forest Haze – arrived in limited‑edition bottles designed by Swedish graphic studio Kungsfors. The launch was supported by pop‑up scent stations in flagship stores, allowing shoppers to experience the olfactory narrative alongside the visual one. In 2023 the brand announced a partnership with the Swedish Environmental Research Institute to trace the origin of key aroma ingredients, reinforcing its transparency goals. Throughout its first decade, & Other Stories has opened more than 150 stores worldwide, while maintaining a digital platform that offers curated editorial content, style guides and behind‑the‑scenes videos of its design process. The label treats fashion as a story that unfolds each season. Its creative brief asks designers to imagine a scene – a rainy afternoon in Berlin, a sunrise over the Baltic Sea – and then translate that mood into fabrics, silhouettes and colour. The fragrance team applies the same method, turning a memory or a feeling into a scent composition. Sustainability sits at the core of the brand’s values; every collection includes a proportion of recycled polyester, organic cotton or responsibly sourced leather. & Other Stories also embraces inclusivity, offering a wide size range and gender‑neutral pieces that invite personal interpretation. The brand’s editorial platform, published on its website, showcases interviews with artists, writers and makers, reinforcing the idea that style is linked to culture and conversation. By keeping design cycles short, the label can respond quickly to emerging trends while still preserving a sense of timelessness in its core pieces.